The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. It is named after Bill Masterton, the only player in NHL history to die due to injuries suffered during a game. The winner is selected by a Professional Hockey Writers’ Association poll after each team nominates one player in the competition. It is often awarded to a player who has returned from a career– or even life-threatening illness or injury.
The current trophy holder is Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Deeper Dive
- Evgeni Malkin the Penguins’ Nominee for Bill Masterton Trophy
- Coyotes’ Andrew Ladd Earns Bill Masterton Trophy Nomination
- Flyers’ Oskar Lindblom Earns Masterton Trophy After Battle With Cancer
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy Winners
| Season | Winner | Team | Reasons for winning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967–68 | Claude Provost | Montreal Canadiens | “Embodied the definition of perseverance and dedication to hockey” throughout his 15-year career. |
| 1968–69 | Ted Hampson | Oakland Seals | Had his best statistical year on a recent expansion team. |
| 1969–70 | Pit Martin | Chicago Blackhawks | 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. |
| 1970–71 | Jean Ratelle | New York Rangers | A 20-year veteran, he won the trophy for a “lifelong dedication to strong, clean hockey”. |
| 1971–72 | Bobby Clarke | Philadelphia Flyers | Overcame diabetes to play in the NHL. |
| 1972–73 | Lowell MacDonald | 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. |
| 1973–74 | Henri Richard | Montreal Canadiens | This honored a 20-year career with 11 Stanley Cups. |
| 1974–75 | Don Luce | Buffalo Sabres | Awarded for perseverance and dedication after a 38-point increase in scoring from the previous season. |
| 1975–76 | Rod Gilbert | New York Rangers | Overcame a serious back injury early during his career. |
| 1976–77 | Ed Westfall | New York Islanders | Awarded for being a good leader. |
| 1977–78 | Butch Goring | Los Angeles Kings | Made the NHL despite his small overall stature and weight and had consistently good seasons. |
| 1978–79 | Serge Savard | Montreal Canadiens | Awarded for “dedication to hockey” after he won his eighth Stanley Cup in eleven seasons. |
| 1979–80 | Al MacAdam | Minnesota North Stars | Rewarded for his perseverance after scoring a career-high 42 goals and 51 assists (93 points). |
| 1980–81 | Blake Dunlop | 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. |
| 1981–82 | Glenn Resch | Colorado Rockies | Awarded for perseverance, as he gave his young team more confidence while he served as its goaltender. |
| 1982–83 | Lanny McDonald | Calgary Flames | Presented for his dedication, scored 66 goals and 32 assists for 98 points. |
| 1983–84 | Brad Park | 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. |
| 1984–85 | Anders Hedberg | 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. |
| 1985–86 | Charlie Simmer | Boston Bruins | Overcame serious ligament damage to his knee to score 60 points. |
| 1986–87 | Doug Jarvis | 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. |
| 1987–88 | Bob Bourne | Los Angeles Kings | Awarded for exemplifying the qualities of dedication and perseverance. |
| 1988–89 | Tim Kerr | 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. |
| 1989–90 | Gord Kluzak | Boston Bruins | Tried to overcome severe knee injuries, but after playing two games after his tenth knee operation, he retired. |
| 1990–91 | Dave Taylor | Los Angeles Kings | Played his entire 17-season career with the Kings and was honored for his dedication. |
| 1991–92 | Mark Fitzpatrick | New York Islanders | Overcame Eosinophilia–myalgia syndrome, a potentially life-threatening disease, and returned to the NHL. |
| 1992–93 | Mario Lemieux | Pittsburgh Penguins | Missed 24 games because of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and still won his fourth Art Ross Trophy with 160 points. |
| 1993–94 | Cam Neely | 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. |
| 1994–95 | Pat LaFontaine | Buffalo Sabres | Overcame a series of serious head injuries. |
| 1995–96 | Gary Roberts | Calgary Flames | Successfully recovered from possibly career-ending surgery to correct bone spurs and nerve damage. |
| 1996–97 | Tony Granato | 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. |
| 1997–98 | Jamie McLennan | St. Louis Blues | Overcame bacterial meningitis. |
| 1998–99 | John Cullen | Tampa Bay Lightning | Overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma. |
| 1999–2000 | Ken Daneyko | New Jersey Devils | Overcame alcoholism. |
| 2000–01 | Adam Graves | New York Rangers | Awarded for all-around dedication to hockey. |
| 2001–02 | Saku Koivu | Montreal Canadiens | Overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma. |
| 2002–03 | Steve Yzerman | Detroit Red Wings | Eventually overcame several health problems but played only a small part of the 2002–03 NHL season. |
| 2003–04 | Bryan Berard | Chicago Blackhawks | Overcame an injury that rendered him legally blind in one eye. |
| 2004–05 | NHL Lockout – No Winner | — | — |
| 2005–06 | Teemu Selanne | Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | Overcame major knee surgery to get 90 points (40 goals and 50 assists). |
| 2006–07 | Phil Kessel | Boston Bruins | Missed 12 games because of testicular cancer mid-season. |
| 2007–08 | Jason Blake | Toronto Maple Leafs | Despite his diagnosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia, he played all 82 games of the season. |
| 2008–09 | Steve Sullivan | Nashville Predators | Played 41 games this season after missing nearly two years due to a fragmented disc in his back and a strained groin. |
| 2009–10 | Jose Theodore | Washington Capitals | Had his best season since 2001–02 following his son Chase’s death in 2009 from complications stemming from his premature birth. |
| 2010–11 | Ian Laperriere | 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.” |
| 2011–12 | Max Pacioretty | 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). |
| 2012–13 | Josh Harding | 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. |
| 2013–14 | Dominic Moore | 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. |
| 2014–15 | Devan Dubnyk | 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. |
| 2015–16 | Jaromir Jagr | Florida Panthers | At the age of 44, he 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. |
| 2016–17 | Craig Anderson | Ottawa Senators | Helped his team advance to the conference final after leaving mid-season to be with his wife, Nicholle, who was diagnosed with cancer. |
| 2017–18 | Brian Boyle | 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. |
| 2018–19 | Robin Lehner | New York Islanders | After publicly revealing struggles with alcoholism and bipolar disorder in the offseason, he 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. |
| 2019–20** | Bobby Ryan | Ottawa Senators | After publicly revealing struggles with alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder, in an effort to help others with addiction issues, he returned to the NHL, scoring a hat trick in his first home game back. |
| 2020-21** | Oscar Lindberg | Philadelphia Flyers | After being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in the middle of the 2019–20 season, he returned in the playoffs that year and played a full season in 2020–21. |
| 2021-22 | Carey Price | Montreal Canadiens | Publicly disclosed and sought treatment for substance abuse and also worked for months on a protracted recovery from offseason knee surgery before returning to play five games at the end of the season. |
| 2022-23 | Kris Letang | Pittsburgh Penguins | Suffered a stroke, the second of his career, after initially suffering from a stroke in January 2014. He returned to play 12 days later. Additionally, he missed time due to a broken foot and the death of his father, Claude, within the same month, still returning to play weeks later. |
