Unless you're a big Yakov Trenin fan, the Minnesota Wild didn't get much buzz during the NHL offseason. Rather than making a high-profile trade for a player like Patrick Laine or Rutger McGroarty, the Wild were forced to use their limited cap space to address marginal issues.
The team acquired Trenin, Jakub Lauko and a series of two-way options, including Devin Shore and Travis Boyd, but not many players left. The highest-paid player to leave was Alex Goligoski, who made just $2 million a year. It feels like very few players left, and in some ways that's true.
But the departure of Mason Shaw leaves a big hole in the locker room, as the fourth-line winger crossed the U.S.-Canada border last week to sign with the Winnipeg Jets, providing a major impetus for the team's rivals to the north.
There's no other way to say it. Mason Shaw has been great. The Wild would be a little less fun to root for without him. It might seem weird to say this about a guy who only played 82 games in a Wild uniform, but Shaw put as much of himself into the organization as any player who could have stayed in St. Paul for years.
Shaw's chances of making the NHL were much slimmer than most. As a fourth-round draft pick in 2017 at 5-foot-9, it was hard to get noticed, especially after tearing his ACL as a junior. But Shaw, as always, worked hard. A few months after being drafted by the Wild, he tore it again in a prospect tournament, but it didn't matter. He rehabbed and returned, impressing the Des Moines staff so much that the Iowa Wild signed him at an amateur tryout.
Shaw hurt his knee again before his final performance at Iowa, but once he got his footing, he never let it go. During the 2020-21 season, coach Tim Army named him an alternate captain and he scored eight goals and 22 points in 30 games. In 2021-22, he scored 19 goals and 52 points at Iowa, both third-highest on the team.
The next year, he was named captain of the Iowa Wild at age 23, almost unheard of in the AHL. But Army said it was never in question. “Mason was the right guy for it,” he said of 2023.
Or he would have been, had the Wild not deemed him a fit for the fourth line. Shaw played just two games at Iowa before being promoted to the Wild, where he never looked back. In 59 games, Shaw recorded seven goals and 17 points, playing on the penalty kill, battling physically and giving maximum effort every night.
Then, in March 2023, the heartbreaking event occurred: a fourth ACL tear. Some players may have retired after two ACL tears, but did that stop Shaw from playing? No, it didn't. I've been there, I've done it Still, you'll never see a player on crutches inject the same energy and drive into a team as you saw when Shaw was doing the “Let's play hockey” chant before Game 3 of the Minnesota-Dallas playoff series.
It's a chilling moment to see how this man is so committed to playing hockey that he made it through four grueling rehabilitation sessions and then easily returned to a career as a ring announcer.
Yep, you guessed the end of the story. After nine games with the Iowa Wild, Shaw returned and proved he was ready to return to Minnesota for a playoff run. The Wild didn't live up to expectations and morale seemed low, but the No. 15 never took it lightly. Despite only scoring one goal and two assists in 20 games, Shaw delivered in a season where fans needed some heartwarming moments.
It would be amazing to see Shaw perform and play that hard on one knee. After four surgeries, his knee injury count is closer to minus-2. But that doesn't matter, because he's a top-class defensive fourth man, he plays great on the penalty kill and he brings a ton of energy and grit to the lineup despite his small size. And it's fair to assume he'll be more effective offensively than he's ever been, considering he's rarely played at 100%.
The Wild may have waived Shaw, and the Jets may have only offered him a two-way contract, meaning he's not guaranteed a spot in Winnipeg. But don't expect Shaw to stay with the Manitoba Moose. If his defensive acumen and drive aren't what'll keep him there, it's how great a teammate he is that will.
“He's at the center of it all,” Army said in 2023. “He has an infectious personality and is very magnetic… He cares about his guys…” [and] “Everybody wants to follow him.” There isn't a locker room in the league that wouldn't want a player like Shaw.
Nothing else to say: “It's been great to see Shaw give his all to this organization. I hope he has another decade in the league.”
