Wilderness Walk: Mason Shaw's Injury Hits Team Hard

Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL.

The Minnesota Wild are already getting bumps and bruises as they fight to keep the top spot in the Central Division during the final stretch of the regular season.

During the first period of a very important game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday -- that finished as a 4-1 defeat for Minnesota -- Mason Shaw went down hard with an injury and needed help getting to his feet and off the ice. It did not look good.

Shaw has dealt with knee problems throughout his career and has come back from undergoing three separate surgeries to repair his ACL, after which he finally made the NHL. But now, he's dealt with another uncertain blow and the team around him knows how much it hurts him to be potentially away from hockey again.

“He’s a heart-and-souler, an unbelievable teammate,” Marcus Foligno said after the game. “When you see him go down, it’s kind of deflating. We’re all thinking of him. When you see a guy that gives everything every shift and goes down with a freak accident, it takes the wind out of your sails.”

“He’s a guy that always gets up,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. “It’s never fun to see a teammate stay down like that.”

There has been no official word on the severity of Shaw's injury, but he will be evaluated on Monday.

That's Wild

• The Wild and GM Bill Guerin were busy at this year's NHL trade deadline last month, making five deals in just a couple days to transform this roster. Their unique aggressiveness at the deadline is already paying dividends. [10K Rinks]
• Filip Gustavsson is really in contention for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender this season. There might be a different winner, but the Wild's netminder should at least be considered. [StarTribune]
• Matt Boldy is shooting a heck of a lot more and he's getting rewarded for it. [NBC Sports]

Off the trail...

• The playoff race in the Eastern Conference is really heating up, but can Matthew Tkachuk will the Florida Panthers into one of those two Wild Card spots? [ESPN]
• Jonathan Toews returned to the ice over the weekend but he has started to hint about potential retirement. [NBC Sports]
• Recently retired defenseman P.K. Subban says that activism shouldn't be pushed onto hockey players. [Yahoo Sports]
• It's not really private anymore, but Ryan Reynolds is in serious contention to buy the Ottawa Senators. Now, it's seeming much more of a possibility after his recent visit to a Sens game. [Sportsnet]