NHL announces 32 nominees for the Bill Masterton Trophy

The 32 nominees for the Bill Masterton Trophy have been announced by the National Hockey League on Friday morning with several worthy of winning the award.

For those who aren't familiar with the award, the Bill Masterton Trophy is handed out annually to 'player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.'

Among the nominees are Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, who missed multiple months with a blood clotting issue this season. Another nominee who has a strong case at winning the award this season is Calgary Flames defenceman Oliver Kylington, who missed the entire 2022-23 season and part of the 2023-24 campaign due to dealing with mental health issues, which he opened up about last summer.

Let's take a look at the full list of the 32 nominees for this year's Bill Masterton Trophy:


Anaheim Ducks - Urho Vaakanainen
Arizona Coyotes - Connor Ingram
Boston Bruins - Danton Heinen
Buffalo Sabres - Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Calgary Flames - Oliver Kylington
Carolina Hurricanes - Frederik Andersen
Chicago Blackhawks - Colin Blackwell
Colorado Avalanche - Jonathan Drouin
Columbus Blue Jackets - Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars - Matt Duchene
Detroit Red Wings - Alex Lyon
Edmonton Oilers - Vincent Desharnais
Florida Panthers - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Los Angeles Kings - Viktor Arvidsson
Minnesota Wild - Marco Rossi
Montreal - Joel Armia
Nashville Predators - Michael McCarron
New Jersey Devils - Curtis Lazar
New York Islanders - Cal Clutterbuck
New York Rangers - Jonathan Quick
Ottawa Senators - Claude Giroux
Philadelphia Flyers - Sean Couturier
Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby
San Jose Sharks - Justin Bailey
Seattle Kraken - Joey Daccord
St. Louis Blues - Nathan Walker
Tampa Bay Lightning - Mikey Eysimmont
Toronto Maple Leafs - Ilya Samsonov
Vancouver Canucks - Noah Juulsen
Vegas Golden Knights - Alex Pietrangelo
Washington Capitals - TJ Oshie
Winnipeg Jets - Laurent Brossoit

It's unclear what day the winner of the Bill Masterton Trophy will be announced, mainly because the National Hockey League isn't committed to holding an in-person awards show this year, so it could come at some point during the Stanley Cup Final in June.