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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Wild winger Mason Shaw knows the drill. He has been sent down to the minor league enough that he knows it’s rarely a good thing to get called into general manager Bill Guerin’s office.
So imagine his nerves last week when Guerin called the 24-year-old winger in after the Wild notched a road win over the Seattle Kraken.
“I was definitely a little nervous,” Shaw said. "He said, ‘We’re going to send you to Iowa.’ I kind of paused and said, ‘Alright.’ Then he goes, ‘To get the rest of your stuff and find a place up here for the rest of the season.’ I think I was starting to blush. I tried not to smile too big.”
The natural progression for young players in the NHL is to live in the team hotel until being given permission to look for a place of your own. Needless to say, Shaw is excited to be moving out of the Residence Inn in St. Paul.
“It’s a little bit of direction moving forward,” he said. “I can live a little bit further than day to day, I guess.”
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As soon as he got the news, Shaw called his parents Aaron and Lindsay. He has credited them time and time again with helping him get to this point.
“They were kind of each day wondering what’s going on, too, right?” Shaw said. “They realize that nothing is guaranteed here. I was glad to share that moment with them because I wouldn’t be here without them. Hopefully they can enjoy this moment as much as I am.”
To say Shaw’s rise up the ranks was difficult would be putting it lightly. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament on three separate occasions, and admitted there were moments of doubt when he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it. He somehow managed to push through and end up better for it.
After developing with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, Shaw got called up last month ahead of the Wild’s 10-day road trip. And he has been among the most effective players in the Wild lineup ever since. What’s motivated him in that span?
“Just hungry to not lose this opportunity,” Shaw said. “Every day I fought like it was my last, and I’ll do the same moving forward. That’s the only way I know how to be. The competitive nature in me to stick around every day has gotten me to this point.”
Now that he’s been given permission to move out of the team hotel, Shaw said he plans to move in with fellow winger Connor Dewar, who got permission to look for a place a couple of weeks ago. They plan to rent out veteran defenseman Alex Goligoski’s house in downtown Minneapolis.
“I wanted to be a part of this team and make a difference,’ Shaw said. “I’ve worked towards that. Now I’m in a position where I can help the team win. Just really excited.”
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