This year’s nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy were announced Friday, with Viktor Arvidsson of the Kings and Urho Vaakanainen of the Ducks joining the field of 32 winners, one from each NHL franchise.
The award recognizes “the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the game of hockey” and honors Masterton, the only player to die as a direct result of an injury suffered during an NHL competition. Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who returned to competition after a stroke for the second time in his career, was last year’s winner.
Arvidsson, a Swedish winger in his third campaign with the Kings, and Vaakanainen, a Finnish guard the Ducks acquired near the 2022 trade deadline, suffered multiple injuries and surgeries over the recent seasons.
Arvidsson, whose top-to-bottom health was a big reason the Nashville Predators traded their seventh leading scorer in franchise history to the Kings in 2021, underwent two major back surgeries between the spring of 2022 and the fall 2023. Only 17 seconds. In his fourth game after his most recent rehab, he suffered an unrelated lower-body injury that took him off the ice and back into the trainer’s room. The Kings have won nine of 12 games with Arvidsson in the lineup and all six games in which he recorded at least one point.
“It’s been a battle, it’s been 12 months of rehab from different injuries and stuff like that,” Arvidsson told Kings blogger Zach Dooley. “A lot of mornings I was going to work every day, just trying to be positive and trying to bring energy to the team and some things. It’s a great honor (to be nominated) and I’m really happy that people are thinking of me.
At 25, five years Arvidsson’s junior, Vaakanainen has already experienced more than his share of injury problems at the NHL level. The former Boston first-rounder suffered a concussion while playing with the Bruins in his second NHL game and then another in 2022. A hard spill on the boards cost him more than a months last season, a campaign that was ultimately cut short after 23 games where Vaakainen had to undergo hip surgery.
Despite having to play while recovering and rehabilitating, he has been available for the Ducks in every game this year and has worn 65. He has formed a formidable shutdown duo with veteran Radko Gudas, who was scheduled to return Friday from an injury, when they were deployed together.
“Staying healthy and being able to play is a big thing,” Vaakanainen told Derek Lee of The Hockey News. “You just have to get the reps and stay consistent. I feel like I’m getting better every day. »
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