Andrew Shaw plans to return for the 2020-21 season after missing the past five months with his latest concussion.
The Blackhawks forward announced Monday night on Instagram that he feels “healthy and am close to fully being healed from not just my last concussion but from others I have had over the years.”
Shaw had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 26 games before he missed the rest of the season with a concussion he sustained against the Avalanche on Nov. 30 in Denver. With five months between now and the projected start of the 2020-21 season in December, he decided not to participate in the NHL’s Return To Play plan in hopes of returning next season.
“I’ve learned a lot about about concussions and head injuries a lot over the past few years thanks to the Blackhawks medical staff of Dr. (Michael) Terry, Mike Gapski, Jeff Thomas and Patrick Becker,” he wrote. “They have helped me in more ways then I can thank them. I love them dearly for doing so because I am the type of person who would play through anything for my teammates.
“With all that being said, along with my family who has shown me so much support, we have come to the difficult decision that these extra five months until next season would be great for my health and recovery. I look forward to being back next season better and stronger then ever! There’s nothing I would love more then to be back out on the ice with the boys battling for Lord Stanley.”
Chicago re-acquired Shaw — who won two Stanley Cup championships with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015 — with a seventh-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft from Montreal on June 30, 2019, for second- and seventh-round picks in the 2020 draft and a third-round pick in 2021. The Blackhawks acquired a 2020 second-round pick back in the Robin Lehner trade with the Golden Knights on Feb. 24.
Shaw, who turns 29 years old on July 20, has two more years on his contract with a $3.9 million salary cap hit per season.