Overview
- The NHL named the three finalists Monday, selecting Rasmus Dahlin, Gabriel Landeskog and Jonathan Toews for the award that honors perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
- Buffalo captain Rasmus Dahlin played through a family health crisis after his fiancée’s emergency heart transplant, took a brief leave in November, then posted 74 points in 77 games and led the Sabres back to the playoffs after a 14-year drought.
- Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog returned from three missed regular seasons and four major knee procedures, including cartilage replacement surgery, and logged 60 games in 2025–26 after becoming the first NHL player to come back from that operation.
- Winnipeg’s Jonathan Toews rejoined the NHL after roughly two-and-a-half years away with long COVID and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, played all 82 games, and led high-volume centers with a 62.1% faceoff win rate.
- Local PHWA chapters nominated players at season’s end, the top vote-getters became finalists, and the winner will be announced later with a $2,500 PHWA grant going to the Bill Masterton Memorial Scholarship Fund.