Soucy, Shaw are Minnesota's 'Odd Couple'

ST. PAUL -- Mason Shaw and Carson Soucy are the Wild's version of "The Odd Couple."
One is a 5-foot-9, 180-pound forward participating in his first development camp. The other is a 6-foot-4, 220-pound defenseman participating in this camp for the fifth time.
One is just 18 years old. The other will turn 23 in a couple of weeks.

"But I think we match
Despite their differences, they share one important thing in common: Their home territory of eastern Alberta.
Soucy, a native of Irma, played two seasons of bantam hockey in Wainwright, about a 15 minute drive down Alberta Highway 14. Wainright is the hometown of Shaw, born a little more than four years after Soucy.
The two have known each other since for years, and their dads, Mike Soucy and Aaron Shaw, played hockey with and against each other in their younger days.
Both Carson and Mason now share a trainer, Adam Huxley of Huxley Hockey Conditioning in Wainright.
"We've known each other for quite a while now," Soucy said.
Even before he was drafted by the Wild last month, Shaw had developed a working relationship with Soucy while training with him the past few years.
When Minnesota made its pick of Shaw, he said he immediately thought of his buddy Soucy.
"It couldn't have worked out better," said Shaw, who spent the past three seasons with the Western Hockey League's Medicine Hat Tigers. "Having Souce here, it's pretty crazy that I ended up kind of where he has been the past couple of years. Rooming with him has been good; he's been able to show me the ropes. I've definitely been enjoying that."
"A couple of my family members, we were talking the night before and kind of thinking, 'What if he got drafted here?' And then to see it, it was pretty cool," Soucy said. "We work out in the summers all the time together and we skate together. I think getting him that late was a good pick because he's a great player and he proved that [in Tuesday's scrimmage] with how much he can control the puck and what he's been working on. It's fun for me but it's also good for the organization."

Knowing his role

Soucy may be participating in his fifth development camp, but there is one major difference this summer as opposed to years past: He enters this one as a professional.
A fifth-round pick by the Wild in the 2013 NHL Draft, Soucy played all four seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth, finishing his career with a 4-3 loss to the University of Denver in the national championship game in Chicago in April.
A few days later, he signed a professional tryout agreement with the Iowa Wild and participated in his first game as a pro.
"I think going to Iowa [to finish the season] actually helped me, trying to move on, trying to move past it," Soucy said. "You can think about it all you want, but you can't change it, so you gotta move past it and think about the next games and the next team."
Soucy played three games for Iowa at the tail end of its season, posting a plus-2 in those games. And while the stay in Des Moines was abbreviated, his play left a good impression on Iowa coach Derek Lalonde. The games were played on consecutive days, a notion that concerned Lalonde initially. But, the coach said, Soucy responded well.
"He played a lot," Lalonde said. "We were concerned with just coming off the [lower-body] injury, the three games were going to be a bit too much, but he handled it extremely well."
Minnesota, which traded defenseman Marco Scandella to the Buffalo Sabres last month, could have some competition for NHL jobs at training camp in September.
Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba are considered sure things on the Wild's blue line, leaving two open spots. Soucy is expected to compete with Mike Reilly, Gustav Olofsson, Kyle Quincey and Nick Seeler for those positions.
Despite that, it hasn't drastically changed how Soucy has approached this week.
"You want to ... try to be optimistic and aim for the best possible outcome," Soucy said. "I'm just going to keep trying to work my best over the summer and come in as best I can, hopefully have a good camp and see where it goes from there.
"You want to be a leader, but you want to be the best out there and show these guys that you're still willing to work on what I need to work on to get better. I just want to keep improving myself and keep having that good impression."
One advantage Soucy will have entering the competition this fall will be his understanding of his own game.
Defensemen take longer to develop, in part, because their skill sets are often revolving. Guys that were offensive defensemen in juniors or in college may not be asked to play that role in the AHL or NHL.
While not a defenseman, Lalonde cited former Wild forward Jordan Schroeder, who was arguably Iowa's best player last season. Schroeder did it all in Iowa, from playing big minutes on the power play to scoring goals and even killing penalties.
Once in Minnesota, he was playing mostly fourth-line minutes with no time on special teams. That's simply the reality for most young players entering the League.
That shouldn't be a problem for Soucy.
"I think it's a compliment to him that he already knows what he is," Lalonde said. "Sometimes it [takes time] for [defensemen] to find that identity. He knew what that was and knowing who he was going to be as a pro, and that's a reliable, simple, dependable stay-at-home defenseman.
"He's already found that identity and is now fine tuning that. The sky is the limit, it's very exciting where he's at right now."