Doesn’t take long for Shaw to make Moose antlers fit

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This article was published 21/11/2018 (2572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Logan Shaw is in his sixth year as a professional hockey player with his ninth team and 13th head coach. Yet nothing, it seems, can deter the 26-year-old product of Glace Bay, N.S., from chasing his dream.

Shaw has 180 NHL regular-season games on his resumé, and he’s been busy plotting his route back to the bigs — no matter what.

“For me, this is a dream job,” the newest member of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose said following practice Wednesday morning. “If you’re waking up frustrated every day — and yeah, you get frustrated sometimes — but you’re playing hockey for a living. So, to me, there’s nothing better than that. So, if you’re getting frustrated, you’re doing something wrong and you’re not playing for the right reason.”

Shaw, who split the 2017-18 season as a bottom-six forward with the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens, spent most of the off-season looking for work.

But, as hard as he trained with summer workout partners Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand in the Halifax area, opportunities were hard to come by. When he finally got the call, the best he could manage was a professional tryout with the Calgary Flames.

By the end of training camp, the Flames had a full complement of contracts and he was off to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, who serve as the main affiliate for the Ducks. In seven games, Shaw scored twice and registered five points while playing on an AHL contract. The Winnipeg Jets, however, were looking to fill a veteran forward spot early in the season and made a bid for Shaw’s services.

Anaheim had a right to match Winnipeg’s offer of a one-year NHL contract worth US$675,000 (US$225,00 in the minors) and declined, so Shaw was off to join the Moose (8-8-1-0, sixth in the Central Division). His transition has been almost seamless, centring Manitoba’s No. 2 line while scoring twice and adding three assists in four games.

“I think it’s an opportunity for me, whether or not I come up with the Jets. It’s a chance to maybe play in the NHL again — that’s why you play hockey,” Shaw said. “I’m here to help this team win and get better myself. In San Diego, I didn’t have the chance to get called up. Here is a chance. It might not come, but it’s a chance. You make sure you keep playing the right way — and they play a fast, big game and it fits me well.”

JC Lipon, Shaw’s right-winger for three of those four games, scored three times and added a pair of assists to boost his season totals to five goals and 10 points in 17 games.

“Sometimes, when a new guy comes in, it can be the spark you need,” Lipon said. “Obviously, we didn’t win as many games as we would’ve liked on the road (going 1-3), but when I got put on a line with him, you can tell he’s a veteran guy who plays the right way. I try to model my game playing the right way, and we ended up cashing in with some goals. It’s definitely a good pickup for us.”

The Moose needed a replacement for veteran Dennis Everberg, who was released after registering only one assist in 11 games. Manitoba head coach Pascal Vincent said Everberg had personal matters to attend to and needed to go home.

Shaw had been on Winnipeg’s radar since the off-season. Vincent knew about the 6-3, 208-pounder’s reputation as an excellent penalty-killer, but wanted to know more.

“I was informed this summer that the team had an eye on him, so I made some calls on people that know him,” Vincent said. “As a player, our guys know about him, and it was getting to know him as a person and all the reports were very, very, very positive — family background, him as a person, him as a teammate, his compete level and what he can bring to us and (that) he might be a call-up for the Jets.

“His goal is to get called up by the Jets, and I like that very much. His size, skating, he has a good stick, he can play power play, PK.”

The Moose host the Iowa Wild on Friday and Saturday, and Vincent said he’s likely to use Shaw on a line with Lipon and Jansen Harkins, although he could also get some work with the club’s top two scorers — Seth Griffith and Mason Appleton.

“I think he’s got real potential, and he can play the right wing, that would probably be his natural position. But we’re going to try to develop him as a centre,” Vincent said.

“He’s really smart, because to pick up our system the way he did fairly quick, that was impressive.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14