Some might say Chicago Blackhawks first-round draft pick Mason West, who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 220 pounds, has a football player’s build.
They would be right.
West, 17, is a rising senior at Edina (Minn.) High School whom the Hawks traded up with the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday to select with the No. 29 pick. He’s also the starting quarterback on the Hornets football team and led them to an 8-3 record in 2024.
Edina lost to Maple Grove in the Class 6A quarterfinals last fall in a 42-12 blowout — one year after losing to Centennial by one point in the state championship game — and the drubbing left a bad taste in West’s mouth. He wants to help win a state title in football for the “tight-knit” community like he did in hockey as a sophomore.
“It would mean the world to me,” West said Monday at Hawks development camp at Fifth Third Arena. “It would be really cool to get (a) state championship for Edina football.”
He is committed to Michigan State for hockey but has received Division I interest in football, including scholarship offers from Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Marshall and South Dakota. A strong senior season might entice more college football programs to take a shot at luring West from hockey.
Unfortunately for them, West plans to trade in his cleats for skates for good after this fall.
“(I’m) 100% hockey — the colleges know that too,” West said. “The main goal right now is trying to win a state championship (in football), and then it’s all hockey from there (so I can) become a better player every day and learn.”
Jared Nightingale, who coaches the Rockford IceHogs, the Hawks’ AHL affiliate, called West a “physical specimen” — and his Edina resume supports it. The forward made the USHS-MN state all-tournament team this year after posting 27 goals and 49 points, both career highs, in 31 games.
After football, West will play for the USHL’s Fargo Force this season, then join the Spartans in 2026-27.
Balancing football and hockey can feel like a circus act. At the NHL draft, West acknowledged the difficulty of juggling the two sports.
“One of the biggest things for me changing sports from football to hockey is the time management part,” West said on Zoom after being drafted. “Once I figured that out and (how to balance) my time, training and recruiting, I started to polish things up.”
Playing multiple sports has taught West valuable lessons for his hockey career. Guiding a football team builds leadership skills, and he said it brings other advantages as well.
“I try to be a leader on and off the ice and on and off the field,” West said. “Some of the skills in football translate to the mental side. Being a quarterback, a lot of things can go wrong, so I do a good job of flushing things and forgetting about those plays and moving on. (Bringing) that to the hockey ice happens a lot faster.”
Despite facing a long road to the NHL, West said he felt “ready right now” to start his Hawks career. He has family ties — a cousin and uncle — to Chicago, which should ease the eventual transition.
“I was always a Blackhawks fan,” West said. “My dad grew up here around the ’90s, so he was a Bulls fan. He brought that era into our house. I’ve always been a fan (watching) Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. It’s super cool that we have connections here that I can go to whenever I need.”
He described hearing his name called in the draft as a “surreal moment” and said he’s “super excited” about the opportunity in Chicago after his stops at Fargo and Michigan State.
“I’m super blessed to be a part of such a great organization,” West said. “It’s always been a dream to play in the NHL and be selected in the draft, so it’s a dream come true.”