The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. The award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 1968, and today they announced their nominees for 2018.
Past winners of the award include Craig Anderson (2017), Jaromir Jagr (2016), Devan Dubnyk (2015), Dominic Moore (2014) and Josh Harding (2013).
Below are the nominees from each team (will be updated as the final nominees are announced):
Anaheim Ducks –
Arizona Coyotes – Jakob Chychrun
Boston Bruins – David Backes
Buffalo Sabres – Kyle Okposo
Calgary Flames – Matt Stajan
Carolina Hurricnes – Jordan Staal
Chicago Blackhawks – Jeff Glass
Colorado Avalanche – Carl Soderberg
Columbus Blue Jackets – Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars – Mattias Janmark
Detroit Red Wings –
Edmonton Oilers – Adam Larsson
Florida Panthers – Roberto Luongo
Los Angeles Kings – Dustin Brown
Minnesota Wild – Matt Cullen
Montreal Canadiens – Antti Niemi
Nashville Predators – Austin Watson
New Jersey Devils – Brian Boyle
New York Islanders – Josh Bailey
New York Rangers – Chris Kreider
Ottawa Senators – Mark Borowiecki
Philadelphia Flyers – Claude Giroux
Pittsburgh Penguins – Kris Letang
San Jose Sharks – Joe Thornton
St. Louis Blues – Carter Hutton
Tampa Bay Lightning – Steven Stamkos
Toronto Maple Leafs – Roman Polak
Vancouver Canucks – Derek Dorsett
Vegas Golden Knights – Brad Hunt
Washington Capitals – Devante Smith-Pelly
Winnipeg Jets – Tyler Myers
They’ll probably give it to Boyle, but FWIW, Kris Letang is playing after having a stroke and a broken neck.
Every hockey player risks their health and life by playing but no one in the NHL’s risk is greater than Letang’s. He’s already got 3 Cup rings, a ton of money, an absurdly attractive wife and young kids, but still he plays on…
Matias Janmark is a great story!Having a solid year after coming back from a procedure that to my knowledge no other NHL player has ever had.
“The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is given out annually to the NHL player who exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”
With 100% due respect to Dorsett and his neck injury which sadly ended his career and the grit the played with, etc. I don’t see how him retiring fits the criteria of the award.
Josh, I have to agree with you on the point you made. Maybe Gavin can help us out with this one. I don’t think that I have ever heard of a player retiring & being eligible for this award. But, I could be wrong.
My vote would be for Brown (LA). Career all but considered done by hockey (salary) standards and the team goat. Stripped of Captaincy on once considered dynasty team. Comes back this year to have one of his best seasons ever. That’s perseverance and dedication lol.