Saturday, March 24, 2012

Who will win the Masterton Trophy?

Clearly, the puck had launched itself into the
stands in an attempt to draw a penalty.
The Masterton Trophy is unique among the NHL's annual awards. For one thing, it's given to the player who "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey", which means it has as much to do with a player's performance off the ice as what he does on it. And for another, it's an award that sees one player from each team nominated instead of the usual three league-wide.

Those 30 nominees are announced at the conclusion of voting by each team's local writers, meaning they're spread out over several weeks in March. We don't yet know the names of every player who's up for the honor this year, but most teams have revealed their nominee. Some have made inspiring recoveries from serious injuries, others are being recognized for their involvement in charity, while others have overcome obstacles that threatened their careers.

But they all have something in common: each is being recognized for facing adversity in some form. Here's a look at some of the players being considered for this year's Masterton Trophy.

Matt Cooke, Pittsburgh Penguins - It's only fair to that he be included, since he was personally responsible for every one of the horrible things that lead to the other 29 guys being nominated.

Johnny Boychuk, Boston Briuns - Has often been described as "not completely insufferable" and "somebody you can watch play one entire game without hating, I guess", making him pretty much a unanimous nomination for the Bruins.

Curtis Sanford, Columbus Blue Jackets - The veteran goaltender is known for spending most of his time working with the underprivileged, in the sense that he plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs - Was somehow able to post the best offensive season of his career despite the overwhelming disadvantage of being stuck with a linemate who occasionally doesn't feel like talking to the media.

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators - Came back from any injury or had a good year or maybe retired or no one really has any idea to be honest, since nobody in Ottawa has said a word about any player other than Erik Karlsson since mid-November.

Colin Fraser, Los Angeles Kings - Must have accomplished something that nobody had ever done before at a Los Angeles Kings game, such as noticing that someone has been high-sticked in the face when your name is "Fraser".

Jaromir Jagr, Philadelphia Flyers - Needed to be recognized for finding the will to succeed despite being like a hundred times better than everybody else at hockey, we guess.

Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes - Was given the nomination in his first season as the Coyotes' new starting goaltender after local writers confirmed with the league office that not being a crazy babbling Russian moon-man could technically be considered a form of sportsmanship.

Corey Potter, Edmonton Oilers - The 27-year-old showed incredible perseverance by spending almost a decade riding the buses and staying in run-down hotels with various college and minor league teams, before the Oilers front office finally tracked him down and forced him to come play in Edmonton.

Clayton Stoner, Minnesota Wild - Has had to go through his whole life battling the assumption that he's some sort of strung-out underachiever just because of his name, which is totally unfair because there are probably a few people out there named "Clayton" who aren't like that.

Petr Sykora, New Jersey Devils - Managed to have a good year despite the pressure of playing for the Devils, the same team we're all pretty sure we remember his grandfather playing for back in the mid-90s.

Dan Girardi, New York Rangers - The Rangers' blueliner is so well-respected for his sportsmanship that coach John Tortorella will often send out a different defenceman to take the opening faceoff when it's time to have a bloody line brawl with a rival that he'll feign innocence about afterwards.

Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens - He enters the race as the clear favorite and Habs fans will probably think he was robbed if he loses, sigh Montreal 911 operators wearily.




26 comments:

  1. I loved the Sykora line. Seriously, I almost don't remember him ever playing hockey....

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  2. Manny Malhotra. Clearly.

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  3. Hilarious jab at Tortorella

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  4. The caption took me a moment, but the impression of brilliance prevailed.

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  5. For the Habs, I think Desharnais is a better choice. He's played a full year in the ECHL and worked his way up slowly and I think that demonstrates the perseverance/dedication aspect.

    I know, serious answer, but it bothers me that no one seems to mention him because Pacioretty was out for a couple of months.

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  6. So many good lines, though the Cooke one might be the best

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  7. fraser.. fraser.. fraser... bitter much?

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  8. Players are nominated by their city's media, right?

    In other news, Phoenix *has* media...

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    1. Of course Phoenix has media,the big news is that the Phoenix media has just learned that their city has an NHL team...

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    2. Since knowing is only half the battle, will the Phoenix media now ACT upon that knowledge and actually cover the Coyotes? Or do the Cubs have a better shot at winning the World Series?

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  9. Only on the Bruins would the guy who broke another players back be considered the Masterton nominee. LOL.

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  10. This is probably my favourite article of yours yet. The Cooke, Boychuk, Sanford and well, all of them, really killed me.

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  11. I, for one, can't wait for the 20th anniversary of the Gretzky-Gilmour high stick. I hope Toronto has a celebration to honour its legacy much like they did in 2007 during their Forty Years of Futility presentation.

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  12. Johnny Boychuk is the guy who almost crippled Mason Raymond in the playoffs last year... So he's probably disqualified from the "somebody you can watch play one entire game without hating, I guess" category. That leaves the number of Bruins that qualify for that at zero.

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    1. So sad...how I loved the Bourque-era Bruins. Now I just want to punch all of them. (Except Recchi, but he's retired, and I refuse to admit he was ever on that team anyway.)

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  13. Hilarious. Too many favorites to mention.

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  14. After Brad Marchand bravely battled through a summer-long bender/hangover, it's a shame he got passed over.

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  15. If Pacioretty wins the award THIS season after what he did to Kris Letang during NHL Game #331, that will be the real injustice.
    It will be just another case of the Canadian Blowhard media having a j***fest over one of their favorites
    For more evidence see the Hart Memorial Trophy circa 1989. It was a case of voting that even Saddam Hussein and Kim Il-sung called "maybe a little bit suspect."

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    1. Yeah, because every other Canadian city's media sure does love the Habs right...

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  16. The Red Wings have apparently nominated Tomas Holmstrom after he's spent more than a decade removing splintered goalie sticks from his backside.

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  17. Gotta say I love the article picture caption.
    Also, good job on the Boychuk part! Good stuff, as always.

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  18. Let's not forget Marchand's ill-advised "champian" tattoo!

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