PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – In a season where he played in his 1,000th game after returning from a stroke, Pens defenseman Kris Letang is up for a major NHL Award.
Letang joins Arizona’s Clayton Keller and Chicago’s Alex Stalock as finalists of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy-the annual award going to the player who ‘best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey’.
It’s the fourth time Letang has been selected by the local Pittsburgh media for the award. He was a finalist in 2015 along with being nominated in 2014 and 2018. Finishing his 17th season with the Pens and signed for five more years, Letang also dealt with the death of his father and came back from a lower body injury in addition to the stroke.
The 36-year-old led all Penguins defensemen with 12 goals and 29 assists, while leading the entire team in time-on-ice per game (24:51). This marked the 10th season in his 17-year career that Letang has led the Pens in points by a defenseman. This season, Letang became the third active defenseman to record nine career 10-goal seasons, as well as the fourth to tally 10, 40-point seasons.
The Masterton Trophy winner is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association vote with the announcement at the 2023 NHL Awards show on June 26 in Nashville.