{"id":649523,"date":"2026-05-04T18:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649523\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:22:08","slug":"dahlin-landeskog-jonathan-toews-voted-masterton-trophy-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/649523\/","title":{"rendered":"Dahlin, Landeskog, Jonathan Toews voted Masterton Trophy finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013\u00a0Buffalo\u00a0Sabres\u00a0defenseman Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>, Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Winnipeg Jets forward\u00a0Jonathan Toews\u00a0are the three finalists for the 2025-26\u00a0Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy<\/a>, which is awarded\u00a0\u201cto the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey,\u201d\u00a0the National Hockey League announced today.<\/p>\n

The local chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA)\u00a0submitted nominations for the Masterton Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season<\/a>\u00a0and the top three vote-getters were\u00a0designated\u00a0as finalists.<\/p>\n

Following are the finalists, in alphabetical order:<\/p>\n

Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo\u00a0Sabres<\/p>\n

Dahlin\u2019s spectacular season on the\u00a0Sabres\u00a0blueline\u00a0was\u00a0played with a heavy heart, but with the promise of a new one as well. While on vacation over the summer in France, Dahlin\u2019s fianc\u00e9e, Carolina\u00a0Matovec, was struck by heart failure and spent several weeks on life support. Eventually,\u00a0Matovec\u00a0received a heart transplant that\u00a0required\u00a0months of hospitalization and rehab.\u00a0Matovec\u00a0later revealed she had lost the couple\u2019s unborn child. Dahlin took a leave of absence for a week in November to attend her periodic medical checkups in\u00a0Sweden, and\u00a0returned both at Christmas and following the Olympics.\u00a0Matovec\u00a0was\u00a0deemed\u00a0healthy enough to join him in Buffalo in March.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0our captain,\u201d\u00a0Sabres\u00a0forward Tage Thompson\u00a0told Matthew Fairburn in\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s a leader \u2026 Obviously, with what they\u2019ve been going through this year, it\u2019s the ultimate test for mental toughness to be able to go through that and still perform at the highest level and be a difference maker and still be a voice in the room and present here with everyone is pretty remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabriel\u00a0Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n

Landeskog missed three full regular seasons with knee issues after playing through injury during the\u00a0Avalanche\u2019s\u00a02022 Stanley Cup run. He had four major procedures done, including knee cartilage replacement surgery in May 2023. He became the first player ever to return to the NHL after having that procedure done when he re-joined the Avalanche during the 2025 playoffs. If his comeback\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0remarkable enough, his first full season back included broken ribs after crashing into the net in January.\u00a0\u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know if\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a mode, but if you can go on NHL26 and build the captain, you just copy Gabe Landeskog,\u201d\u00a0Avalanche forward Parker Kelly told Corey Masisak in the\u00a0Denver Post<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s\u00a0what\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going to build. He has it all, man.\u00a0Just feel super lucky to play with him and super happy for him to get back in the lineup, do as well as\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0done this year, making an impact every night.\u201d\u00a0The Presidents\u2019\u00a0Trophy-winning Avalanche went\u00a045-7-8\u00a0when Landeskog\u00a0was\u00a0in the lineup and\u00a010-9-3 when he\u00a0was\u00a0not.<\/p>\n

Jonathan\u00a0Toews, Winnipeg Jets<\/p>\n

Toews returned to the NHL this season after an absence of two-and-a-half years, dealing with a variety of health-related issues, including long Covid and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS),\u00a0that have been plaguing him since 2020. Toews stepped away from the game at the end of the 2022-23 season, unsure what his future in the sport would hold. His return to health included traveling to India for Ayurvedic Treatment. Toews, 38, signed a one-year deal with his hometown\u00a0Jets\u00a0and\u00a0ranked\u00a0among the League leaders in faceoffs; his 62.1% winning percentage was\u00a0tops\u00a0among the\u00a047 centers who took at least 1,000 draws. Toews\u00a0reached double digits in goals for\u00a0the\u00a016th\u00a0time in as many NHL seasons\u00a0(11-18\u201429)\u00a0and\u00a0played\u00a082 games for the first time since 2018-19. The three-time Stanley Cup champion also played a valuable role as a mentor.\u00a0\u201cI am very thankful for all of the struggles,\u201d\u00a0Toews told Paul Friesen in the\u00a0Winnipeg Sun<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cBecause honestly, it is cliche but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0where\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0learned the most about myself.\u00a0About hockey, about life and\u00a0all of\u00a0those things.\u00a0So\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill\u00a0Masterton Memorial Scholarship Fund<\/p>\n

A $2,500 grant from the\u00a0PHWA is awarded annually to the Bill Masterton Scholarship Fund, based in Bloomington, Minn., in the name of the Masterton Trophy winner.<\/p>\n

History<\/p>\n

The trophy was presented by the\u00a0NHL Writers\u2019\u00a0Association in 1968 to commemorate the late\u00a0Bill Masterton, a player with the Minnesota North Stars who\u00a0exhibited\u00a0to a high degree the qualities of perseverance,\u00a0sportsmanship\u00a0and dedication to hockey and who died on Jan. 15, 1968.<\/p>\n

Announcement Schedule<\/p>\n

The series of\u00a0NHL Trophy finalist announcements continues\u00a0Tuesday,\u00a0May 5, when the three finalists for the\u00a0Calder Memorial Trophy\u00a0will be unveiled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013\u00a0Buffalo\u00a0Sabres\u00a0defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog\u00a0and\u00a0Winnipeg Jets forward\u00a0Jonathan Toews\u00a0are the three finalists for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-649523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}