Mason Shaw was in his hotel room in Rockford, Ill., on Jan. 19, with plenty on his mind.
It was the eve of Shaw’s much-anticipated return from his fourth ACL surgery. How would it go, taking the ice for AHL Iowa? How would he feel?
Then Shaw, 25, got a text message from his best friend, Wild center Connor Dewar. The former roommates and linemates have been together through a couple of his rehabs. Dewar wanted Shaw to know how much everyone was thinking about him, how proud he was; after all, Dewar knew how much work the scrappy, fourth-round forward put in to get back.
“Let it rip,” Dewar wrote.
The next morning, Shaw Google’d how many days had it been since April 1, 2023, when he tore his ACL in a Wild loss in Las Vegas: 294.
“I was like, ‘Damn, that’s a long time,’” Shaw told The Athletic. “But every day’s worth of grinding was worth it. I get to be a hockey player again.”
Shaw certainly is. He has now played in five games for Iowa. On Friday night, in a loss to San Diego, he scored his first professional goal since March 21. He scored two more goals Saturday.
There’s no specific timeline for Shaw’s return to Minnesota or if it’ll even happen this season. Just because he’s back on the ice doesn’t mean his legs are under him quite yet or that management will feel he can help the Wild this season.
Right now, he’s on an AHL contract. He hopes to sign an NHL contract with the Wild before the March 8 trade deadline. If not, perhaps the Wild sign him for next season.
The experiences of going through the same rehab three times before helped Shaw, but it was also a stark reminder of how much of a grind it’d be.
“I think mentally, this was probably the hardest,” Shaw said. “Going through this so many times, I knew the timeline that was ahead of me, how much work was going to be put in. You’d finally reached a level that you’d dreamed of getting to your whole life in the NHL. The season went pretty good for myself. The team had a lot of success. So the fourth has been the hardest.”
You could tell how gutted Shaw’s Wild teammates were when he had to be helped off the ice. It took the life out of the dressing room. It was fair to wonder if Shaw would come back again.
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Shaw said he never had those thoughts, or any doubts, that he could return. His biggest question was, as an unrestricted free agent, would there be a place for him if he did?
“You worry in the hockey world if people are almost going to lose their trust in you,” Shaw said. “If you’re going to be able to withstand what it takes to be a hockey player. And that was probably on my mind more than anything. I wasn’t worried if I could get through it because I knew I had the self-belief and self-drive to get through it. I guess I was more worried about where I would fit in the hockey world after this. Fortunately, 9 ½ months later, I’m a hockey player again.”
Shaw credited the Wild for being “unbelievable” in their support, from owner Craig Leipold to president and GM Bill Guerin down to the trainers and equipment staff. While Shaw was technically a free agent without a contract, it felt like he was still a member of the organization all summer. He had a locker in the Minnesota dressing room at TRIA Rink, where he’d do a lot of his solo skates and rehab. He was an assistant coach for the Wild’s Crazy Day of Hockey charity event. He joined his buddies Brock Faber, Calen Addison and Marco Rossi to watch Boldy in a pro golf tournament in Brainerd in September.
The Wild didn’t have the cap space to sign Shaw to a contract at that point, but they treated him like he was one of their own.
“I always felt like I was part of this organization,” Shaw said. “I’m here playing games with Iowa. But I can’t give enough credit to how they handled this situation and how much they helped me…
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