Andrew Shaw used all of his smallish frame to make a huge impact on the Chicago Blackhawks — until concussions forced him to retire at 29: ‘I’m in a good place’
Coaches and teammates, and perhaps the man himself, probably would agree: Chicago Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw took all of his 5-foot-11, 182-pound frame and threw it into becoming the smallish hockey “Mutt” who made a giant pest of himself to opponents while making a huge impact on the culture of a franchise.
But one of the NHL’s ultimate underdogs finally met a hurdle he couldn’t climb: his history with concussions.
“I was always told I was never good enough, never big enough, never fast enough, never skilled enough,” said Shaw, who announced his retirement Monday, following medical advice. “I’m just grateful for the time I had: 10 years, two Stanley Cups, over 500 games.
“I have a lot of memories I’ll be able to remember, and maybe people saying all those things put a chip on my shoulder and made me want to prove them wrong.”
Shaw, three months shy of his 30th birthday, said doctors “strongly recommended” he stop playing.
He was placed in the NHL’s concussion protocol Feb. 11 and then placed on long-term injured reserve March 5. He played 14 games of this season’s 56-game schedule.
Last season, Shaw was placed on long-term injured reserve Dec. 9, 2019, and missed 44 games as part of a 14-month layoff.
Two seasons before that, in 2017-18, he missed the final 12 games with the Montreal Canadiens.
Shaw wasn’t sure of the number of concussions he has had throughout his career, “but I think we’ve learned more in the past five years about concussions than we’ve known about it in a long time.”
He said the notion of leaving the game “has been in the back of my head for a few years now.”
“My love for the game pushed it away, and listening to doctors for once in my life, we finally made a decision it would be best for me to step away from the game,” Shaw said. “There’s no way I can change the way I play. It’s going to keep putting myself in vulnerable situations. For my long-term health, it’s best that I do so.
“It’s hard. I’ve been playing hockey since I was 4 years old. Played 10 years in the NHL. It became my life, and it’s tough to walk away from that. I’ve got a loving wife and loving kids and parents and siblings and friends that helped me with this transition.”
Shaw said the first colleague he told was former Hawks teammate Brent Seabrook, who stepped away from the game in early March because of lingering pain and long-term damage to his hips.
“He was going through something similar; his body wasn’t allowing him to play anymore as well,” Shaw said. “Him going through it, me going through it, it was just easy to talk to him about it.”
Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, who coached the Hawks during Shaw’s Stanley Cup runs in 2013 and ’15, wished “Shawzy” well.
“He’s a special guy, very unique player,” Quenneville said. “When we were in there (in Chicago) last time, I had a talk with him, and it was about how he was feeling and where he was at. And you’ve got to respect his decision and what he’s been dealing with over the last few years as far as the quality of his life.”
Shaw’s colleagues in Chicago greeted the news with a mix of sadness at the departure of a teammate and friend and satisfaction that he’s leaving when he felt the time was right.
“It’s sad to see him have to leave the game, but it’s probably time,” Alex DeBrincat said. “You’ve got to take your health first, and there’s always a time for everyone.
“He’s had a great career, and obviously winning two Cups is huge. He’s been the heartbeat of Chicago for a long time.”
Brandon Hagel said: “It’s definitely not the way he probably wanted to go out, but the guy’s had a hell of a career. Even as a little kid, you know who Andrew Shaw is growing up.”
Coach Jeremy Colliton added: “Players are competitors; they want to play as long as they can. You never like to see a guy stop playing before he’s ready or would like to be done. Obviously he’s done a lot, had an excellent career, a lot of personal accomplishments.”
Stan Bowman, the Hawks president of hockey operations and general manager, said Shaw’s career is “really an underdog story.”
“He was passed over in a couple drafts and comes in and didn’t even start with an NHL contract,” Bowman said of the Hawks’ 2011 fifth-round draft pick. “He was just on an American League contract his first year, and he was playing so well that we signed him in the middle of the year, brought him up.
“We saw his impact that first game. It was the start of a great connection between Andrew and our team and our city.”
Shaw made an impression from Day 1. Bowman said Shaw treated his first shift in summer camp “like it was the Stanley Cup Final.”
During Shaw’s NHL debut Jan. 5, 2012, he scored a goal and got into a fight with Philadelphia Flyers center Zac Rinaldo.
“He challenges a really tough guy in Philly who was well-respected around the league for being a tough player, and Andrew had no fear, went right after him, scored a goal that game,” Bowman said. “Just a great introduction to the NHL for him.
“From that point on, we knew we had someone who had a lot of energy and was going to bring a different element to the team.”
Shaw had a three-game point streak (a goal and two assists) in the first three games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, but one of his most memorable postseason highlights came during Game 2 of the 2015 Western Conference finals against the Anaheim Ducks when he head-butted the puck into the net — though the goal was disallowed.
Shaw credited his hard-nosed style of play to Quenneville’s tutelage.
“He’s one of the coaches who made me who I am,” he said. “He took a kid who had passion, work ethic, someone who was intense, and he let me be me. He let me play my style. He let me walk the line. I know there are times I went over the line and took penalties and it might have hurt the team. But he saw in the long run that I was doing more good than I was harm.
“I hope the fans noticed that because I still get hate for stupid penalties, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m me. Q made sure I stayed true to myself, and I think it rubbed off on my teammates.”
Part of staying true to himself was putting himself in harm’s way.
Shaw, who plays a greasy game, has been credited with 1,044 hits in his career, according to Hockey Reference. By comparison, Jonathan Toews, a bigger center who plays a much more offensive style, has 595 hits.
The disregard for his body comes through in Shaw’s comments.
“The warrior mentality where there wasn’t a day, a game that went by where I felt 100% because the game before I took some blows or threw some blows,” Shaw said. “Just to battle through it rubbed off on some people. I’d like to think it helped us win Cups.
“Even though I wasn’t a guy to score a lot of goals or put up a lot of points, I battled every single night I was on the ice,” said Shaw, who had 116 goals and 131 assists. “Q pushed that into me. He made sure I was consistent, that he could rely on me game in and game out.
“Not being a guy who scores a lot of goals, when we’re down a goal with a minute left, I was always the guy to take the goalie. I was always on the ice. He said, ‘Get to the net, do your thing, create as much havoc as you can.’ Without Joel being my first coach, I might not have had a 10-year career.”
Quenneville said Shaw’s tenacity and other intangibles were underappreciated.
“He’s one of those guys that played relentless, took a lot of lot of tough hits, but that unpredictability that he created for opponents put us in a good spot in a lot of situations,” Quenneville said. “Having that element where he could change the complexion of the game, where it would be a big hit, whether it would be a fight, whether it would be in the crease battling for loose pucks.”
Shaw played five seasons for the Hawks before they traded him in June 2016 to the Canadiens for two second-round draft picks, including one the Hawks spent on DeBrincat.
After three seasons in Montreal, which included a career-best 47 points (19 goals and 28 assists) in 2018-19, the Canadiens traded him back to the Hawks in June 2019.
“I do appreciate that,” Shaw said. “To come back here, retire as a Blackhawk, where my career started, it’s pretty amazing that that can happen. It’s a perfect ending to my career.”
For someone whose toughness might be most remembered, Shaw’s jovial nature was equally appreciated off the ice.
“He’s one of the best to have in the room and definitely going to be missed,” Hagel said.
“Makes everyone laugh,” DeBrincat said. “Just fun to have him around. Don’t know if I’ll miss him flexing in the mirror as much.”
Shaw said he’ll miss that aspect of hockey life.
“The brotherhood and how we razz each other every day — me being one of the ones razzing most people — I’m going to miss that,” he said. “I hope my wife has thick skin because I’m probably going to be coming after her.”
Shaw said he isn’t sure what’s in store in the future, but he’s open to some role with the Hawks if they’ll have him.
“I think every hockey player, when their career comes to an end — especially the way mine is, not on your own terms — needs to take a little bit of time and maybe get away from the game a little bit, make it a little easier,” Shaw said. “But I know this organization cares deeply about their players.
“Maybe not right now, but in the near future or so, I can see myself working for the Blackhawks.”
Bowman said Shaw probably won’t file retirement paperwork for salary-cap purposes, but “we’ll work through that.”
For now, Shaw is focused on his recovery from concussion symptoms.
“Emotions are all over the place,” he said. “But I feel good, I look good. I’m staying strong, staying healthy, doing everything I need to do to feel good. Are there minor things? Maybe a little bit. But that’s something I’ll continue to work on for a while. Time heals everything.
“I felt great coming out of every concussion. I made sure I was feeling good, so I’m going to do the same thing with this one as well. I’m in a good place.”
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