For their eighth player signing announcement of the offseason, the Kansas City Mavericks announced that Center Ryan Harrison has agreed to a Standard Player Contract for the 2021-22 season. Harrison will be making his return to the ECHL after spending the last three seasons in Europe. Harrison last saw ECHL action in the 2017-18 season where he won a second straight Kelly Cup with the Colorado Eagles.
In Europe over the last three seasons, Harrison played for DVTK Jegesmedvek in Hungary, and for Gherdeina in the Alps Hockey League in Italy. In two seasons in Hungary, he amassed 46 points on 14 goals and 32 assists and 182 Penalty Minutes in 110 games played. In seven games with Gherdeina in 2020-21, he had two assists and ten penalty minutes.
The five-foot-ten-inch 29-year-old is a native of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. He spent six junior seasons in the Western Hockey League, splitting his time between the Prince Albert Raiders, Medicine Hat Tigers, and the Everett Silvertips. In his WHL career, he played 325 games, scored 225 points on 79 goals and 146 assists, and racked up 507 penalty minutes. In 2011, while playing for the Everett Silvertips he attended rookie camp for the Vancouver Canucks, however, he was never drafted. After two years of collegiate hockey at the University of Calgary, Harrison made his professional debut in Sweden’s Division Two League in 2015-16. Then in 2016-17, he joined the Colorado Eagles, then of the ECHL. In 61 games in his first season, he scored nine goals and 28 assists for 37 points, had 102 penalty minutes, and was a plus 19. He helped lead the Eagles to a Kelly Cup Championship, scoring 11 points in 20 playoff games.
When asked for a comment on this signing, Mavericks Head Coach and General Manager Tad O’Had responded “Ryan Harrison is a shutdown center that understands what it takes to win in the mountain division and the ECHL. He won back-to-back Kelly Cup Championships in Colorado. He has a winning mindset and he plays a 200 ft game. He is a competitor that plays with intensity and emotion and we love his overall work ethic and demeanor. It’s players like him that create the fabric of a winning culture. We believe Ryan will be an important piece to our team’s success.”
This is also an intuitive signing as Harrison has 241 professional games under his belt, keeping him under the threshold of 260 games for veteran status in the ECHL. In the ECHL, teams are only allowed four veteran players on the roster. This allows the Mavericks to have a very experienced player on the roster, but they don’t have to use a precious veteran slot to acquire him. So far, only Shawn Weller is occupying a veteran slot on the Mavericks roster.
Harrison’s offensive stats are decent for a center at this level of hockey, but his penalty minutes are more eye-catching. Along with his 507 WHL PIMs, in two seasons in the ECHL, he has 151 PIMs, and in two seasons in Hungary, he had 182. Harrison will be able to drive play well, but will also stand up for his teammates when needed. Looking at the signings that have been announced so far, between Harrison, Ulett, and Weller, it is clear that Coach O’Had is placing a premium on grittiness. Expect Harrison to be a heart-and-soul type of player, willing to go to battle every night for his team. It would not be surprising if he becomes a fan-favorite during the course of the upcoming season.