Pittsburgh Penguins’ Dupuis Masterton Trophy Finalist

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Pascal Dupuis was named one of the three finalists for the Masterton Trophy, along with Mats Zuccarello and former Penguin Jaromir Jagr.

This afternoon the NHL’s Public Relations department announced that the three finalists for the Masterton Trophy had been determined. The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ Pascal Dupuis was one of those three, along with the New York Rangers‘ Mats Zuccarello and the Florida Panthers‘ Jaromir Jagr.

The Masterton Trophy is presented annually to the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey,” and is often awarded to players who have overcome serious health issues and still continue to contribute to their team in some way.

Every team nominates a player on their roster whom they believe best embodies that and then the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote on which ones will become finalists. This year’s group is more than deserving.

Dupuis, of course, announced his retirement last December 8. He was dealing with long-term blood clot problems that had been plaguing him since early 2014, when he tore his ACL. He missed a significant amount of time and had to leave two games this season due to complications.

The family man cited his wife and four children as the main reason he chose to retire – which is certainly admirable. Even though he hasn’t suited up since early December, he’s been an invaluable asset to his team. Dupuis’s jovial attitude and leadership skills gives him a strong presence in the locker room. He also attends all home games as an extension of the coaching staff, watching from above and giving feedback.

While we miss Dupuis on the ice, his health comes first. It’s great that other people agree and he’s getting applauded for making that move instead of continuing to try to play through life-threatening injuries. After everything he’s been through, he’s definitely a viable winner.

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His competition is stiff, though. Zuccarello was seriously injured after being hit in the head by a puck during the playoffs last year. He not only suffered a severe concussion, skull fracture, and brain contusion, but also had to undergo speech therapy to even be able to speak again. It was later revealed that he had also had a stroke.

Current Penguin Carl Hagelin, who was a Ranger when the injury happened and is still one of Zuccarello’s best friends, said that he cried when he and teammates visited the hospital to see Zuccarello in such a bad state. It’s truly nothing short of a miracle that Zuccarello not only recovered completely but was even able to return to playing professional hockey – and putting up career statistics in only the season after that.

Jagr, who won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992, is the third finalist. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to suffer life-threatening injuries like Dupuis and Zuccarello to become a nominee.

He’s just really old.

Jagr is the oldest player in the league at 44, leading the Panthers with 66 points and becoming the oldest active player to break the 60-point threshold. That’s great and all, and the Panthers surely couldn’t have been as strong as they were this season without him, but in the end he just can’t win.

It’s kind of sick to pit such awful injuries against each other, but both Zuccarello and Dupuis are more than worthy of an award for bravely battling through them.