Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

The **Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy** is awarded every year to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. The winner is selected by a vote of the _Professional Hockey Writers' Association_ after each team selects one player on their team to be voted on. It is often awarded to a player who has come back from career- or even life-threatening illness or injury. A player can receive this trophy only once in his career.

## History

The trophy is named in honour of Bill Masterton, a Minnesota North Stars player who died on January 15, 1968, after sustaining an injury during a hockey game. During his playing career, Masterton showed "to a high degree the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey". It was first awarded following the 1967–68 regular season. As of the end of the 2008–09 NHL season, players for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Boston Bruins have won the trophy 4 times each, while the Los Angeles Kings have won 3 times.

## Winners

|style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Season|style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Winner|style="background: #e3e3e3;"|Team|style="background: #e3e3e3;" class="unsortable"|Reasons for winning|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|||Montreal Canadiens|"Embodied the definition of perseverance and dedication to hockey" throughout his 15-year career.|||||
|||Oakland Seals|Had his best statistical year on a recent expansion team.|||||
|||Chicago Black Hawks|After denouncing the Hawks at the end of the 1968–69 NHL season, Martin and his team came back to finish first in the league, and Martin had 30 goals and 33 assists for 63 points.|||||
|||New York Rangers|A 20-year veteran, he won the trophy for a "lifelong dedication to strong, clean hockey".|||||
|||Philadelphia Flyers|Overcame diabetes to play in the NHL.|||||
|||Pittsburgh Penguins|Overcame severe ligament and cartilage damage to his knee and scored 34 goals and 41 assists for 75 points during the 1972–73 NHL season.|||||
|||Montreal Canadiens|This honoured a 20-year career with 11 Stanley Cups.|||||
|||Buffalo Sabres|Awarded for perseverance and dedication, after a 38-point increase in scoring from the previous season.|||||
|||New York Rangers|Overcame a serious back injury early during his career.|||||
|||New York Islanders|Awarded for being a good leader.|||||
|||Los Angeles Kings|Made the NHL despite his small overall stature and weight, and had consistently good seasons.|||||
|||Montreal Canadiens|Awarded for "dedication to hockey", after he won his eighth Stanley Cup in eleven seasons.|||||
|||Minnesota North Stars|Rewarded for his perseverance after scoring a career-high 42 goals and 51 assists (93 points).|||||
|||St. Louis Blues|Although he was a star in junior hockey, he only broke out during the 1980–81 NHL season, after being drafted during the 1973–74 NHL season, by scoring 20 goals and 67 assists for 87 points. It was awarded for perseverance.|||||
|||Colorado Rockies|Awarded for perseverance, as he gave his young team more confidence while he served as its goaltender.|||||
|||Calgary Flames|Presented for his dedication; scored 66 goals and 32 assists for 98 points.|||||
|||Detroit Red Wings|Awarded for his dedication to hockey, having played for a team that qualified for the playoffs for 17 straight seasons without winning the Stanley Cup.|||||
|||New York Rangers|He was recognized for a dedicated career, and unlike many other winners, for a very good season (20 goals and 31 assists in 64 games played) as well.|||||
|||Boston Bruins|Overcame serious ligament damage to his knee to score 60 points.|||||
|||Hartford Whalers|Awarded during a season in which he played his 915th consecutive game, beating Garry Unger's record. He retired having improved the record to 964.|||||
|||Los Angeles Kings|Awarded for exemplifying the qualities of dedication and perseverance.|||||
|||Philadelphia Flyers|He returned to score 48 goals and 40 assists for 88 points in 69 games after overcoming severe knee and shoulder injuries, as well as aseptic meningitis the season before.|||||
|||Boston Bruins|Tried to overcome severe knee injuries, but after playing two games after his tenth knee operation, he retired.|||||
|||Los Angeles Kings|Played his entire 17-season career with the Kings, and was honored for his dedication.|||||
|||New York Islanders|Overcame Eosinophilia–myalgia syndrome, a potentially life-threatening disease, and returned to the NHL.|||||
|||Pittsburgh Penguins|Missed 24 games because of Hodgkin's lymphoma, and still won his fourth Art Ross Trophy with 160 points.|||||
|||Boston Bruins|Awarded "to recognize his valiant efforts to return to NHL action after suffering career-threatening injuries"; however, those injuries caused his retirement after the 1995–96 NHL season.|||||
|||Buffalo Sabres|Overcame a series of serious head injuries.|||||
|||Calgary Flames|Successfully recovered from possibly career-ending surgery to correct bone spurs and nerve damage.|||||
|||San Jose Sharks|Overcame possibly career-ending brain injury sustained during the 1995–96 NHL season to score 25 goals during the 1996–97 NHL season.|||||
|||St. Louis Blues|Overcame bacterial meningitis.|||||
|||Tampa Bay Lightning|Overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma.|||||
|||New Jersey Devils|Overcame alcoholism.|||||
|||New York Rangers|Awarded for all-around dedication to hockey.|||||
|||Montreal Canadiens|Overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma.|||||
|||Detroit Red Wings|Eventually overcame several health problems, but played only a small part of the 2002–03 NHL season.|||||
|||Chicago Blackhawks|Overcame an injury that rendered him legally blind in one eye.|||||
||colspan="3"|This trophy was not awarded as a consequence of the lockout that canceled the entire season.||||||
|||Mighty Ducks of Anaheim|Overcame major knee surgery to get 90 points (40 goals and 50 assists).|||||
|||Boston Bruins|Missed 12 games because of testicular cancer mid-season.|||||
|||Toronto Maple Leafs|Despite his diagnosis with chronic myelogenous leukemia, he played all 82 games of the season.|||||
|||Nashville Predators|Played 41 games this season after missing nearly two years due to a fragmented disc in his back, and a strained groin.|||||
|||Washington Capitals|Had his best season since  following his son Chase's death in 2009 from complications stemming from his premature birth.|||||
|||Philadelphia Flyers|Diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome after being hit in the face with a puck while blocking a shot during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs; did not play again after the injury, but "continued to serve the team in several capacities."|||||
|||Montreal Canadiens|Was knocked out of the 2010–11 season following a hit that left him with a concussion and a fractured vertebra. Pacioretty returned in 2011–12 to have his most productive season to date (33 goals and 32 assists).|||||
|||Minnesota Wild|Earned a shutout in his first start after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the off-season, then missed 33 games before returning late in the season and starting five playoff games.|||||
|||New York Rangers|Returned to the NHL in the 2013–14 season after taking an 18-month leave of absence from the league in the spring of 2012 to care for his wife, Katie, following her diagnosis with a rare form of liver cancer. She died in January 2013.|||||
|||Minnesota Wild|Led the last-place Wild to the playoffs following a mid-season trade, going 27–9–2 with a 1.78 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and five shutouts. The Wild were Dubnyk's fifth team over the previous two seasons.|||||
|||Florida Panthers|At the age of 44, led the Panthers in points (66) and was second in goals (27), as the team earned its first Atlantic Division title and returned to the playoffs after 3 absences. Jagr became the oldest player to surpass 60 points, and  was lauded for his work ethic and off-ice mentorship.|||||
|||Ottawa Senators|Helped his team advance to the conference final after leaving mid-season to be with wife, Nicholle, who was diagnosed with cancer.|||||
|||New Jersey Devils|Diagnosed with myeloid leukemia, a type of bone marrow cancer at the beginning of training camp. He returned to the NHL on November 1 and scored 10 goals over his first 25 games.|||||
|||New York Islanders|Revealed his struggles with alcoholism and bipolar disorder in the offseason. Had a career-low 2.13 goals against average in the regular season with the Islanders, which was the lowest total since the mid-1980s.|||||
|||Ottawa Senators|Revealed struggles with alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder, to try and help others who also had addiction issues. He returned to the NHL, scoring a hat trick in his first home game back.|||||
|2020–21||Philadelphia Flyers|Was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma during the 2019–20 season, he returned in the playoffs that year and played a full season in 2020–21.|||||
|2021–22||Montreal Canadiens|Revealed and received treatment for substance abuse, and worked for months on a recovery from offseason knee surgery, before returning to play five games at the end of the season.|||||
|2022–23||Pittsburgh Penguins|Suffered a stroke, the second of his career, after first suffering from a stroke in January 2014. He returned to play 12 days later. He also missed time because of a broken foot and the death of his father within the same month, still returning to play weeks later.|||||
|2023–24||Arizona Coyotes|Almost retired in 2021 because to clinical depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, before he would enter the NHL Player Assistance Program. Led the league in shutouts in 2023–24 and was named First Star of the Week in December, after winning four straight games against the past four Stanley Cup champions.|||||

## Related pages

- List of NHL players
- List of NHL statistical leaders

## References

- Notes

## Other websites

- NHL.com

## Infobox (sports award)

- **name**: Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy
- **image**: Hhof masterton.jpg
- **sport**: Ice hockey
- **givenfor**: National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice ice hockey, hockey.
- **first**: 1967–68 NHL season
- **mostrecent**: Connor Ingram
Arizona Coyotes