Mason Shaw has played in seven games this season with the Iowa Wild but recently has been heating up.
The Wild have a decision to make before the NHL trade deadline. They can choose to burn Mason Shaw's AHL deal and sign him to an NHL deal or just keep him in the American Hockey League.
It won't be an easy decision but right now, Shaw is pushing the Wild to hopefully sign him to an NHL deal and bring him up to the big club before March 8th.
Shaw, 25, has played in seven AHL games this season with the Iowa Wild after missing the whole start of the NHL season recovering from his fourth ACL surgery. The Wild signed him to an AHL deal in the offseason and started the year with him on the Injured Reserve list.
In late January Shaw came off the IR and played in his first professional game in over nine months. His first three games in the AHL weren't what he hoped for but that was expected since it was his first three games following a long nine-month recovery of an ACL tear.
But in his last four games, Shaw has four goals, two shorthanded goals, a fight, ten shots, and a game-winning goal which he scored last night.
Part of what made Shaw so good for the Wild in the 59 NHL games last year was his ability to kill penalties. The Wild finished with the tenth-best penalty kill percentage in the NHL last season but have been far from that this year.
As of right now, the Wild are currently tied with the Montréal Canadiens for the third-worst penalty kill in the entire NHL.
Shaw has a minus-nine rating in seven games this season so there is still some room for him to improve his defensive game before the Wild call him up. But two shorthanded goals in seven games is likely a good sign.
There is no doubt Shaw would help the Wild's penalty kill this season but that can't be the only reason why they call him up, I'd imagine. Nonetheless, it's good to see him succeeding in the AHL only nine months removed from his fourth ACL surgery.