Pittsburgh Penguins “so far” Awards: The Masterton Nominee

Perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication are what exemplify and determine who the Pittsburgh Penguins will select for the Masterton award this season.

Continuing with the trend from yesterday’s Pens Labyrinth rookie of the year winner, we dive into who should be the Masterton nominee for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last year’s nominee was Josh Cullen as he continued coming back once more. Seemingly so, these awards tend to be seen as a comeback award instead of what it is.

The Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA), Pittsburgh edition, votes each year for their team’s nominee for the Masterton award. From there, each NHL team gives their nominees, and then an overall winner is selected. As previously stated in the first paragraph, this award is given to the player, seemingly, that shows the most commitment.

You have already guessed this, but the Penguins don’t have any grand or apparent choices for this award this year. Last year Cullen stood out and walked away with this award. However, this season only might see either Patric Hornqvist or Evgeni Malkin grab the nomination.

More from Pens Labyrinth

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• Penguins Waddle Toward The Season
• Farewell Carl Hagelin
• Penguins Line-up Breakdown vs Stanley Cup Champs Vegas
• Ryan Graves Solid Signing For The Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins “so far” Awards: The Masterton Nominee.

We decided to hop into the shoes of a PHWA writer and select our nominee for the Masterton award. Our nominee… Evgeni Malkin. Malkin this year has easily checked off all of the boxes when it comes to perseverance, dedication, and sportsmanship and this season, maybe even more than in the past.

Malkin is at the ripe old age of 33, which sometimes sees a decline in many NHL forwards, but it has only made his game better. Not only is he leading the team in points (74 points, 25 goals, 49 assists), but he has continued grooming his on and off the ice position as a leader.

Geno isn’t the type of player to not get dirty, so he does occasionally get scraped and bruised up, leading to time off and injuries to work through. Time and time again, he has come back, and like a fine Russian wine (or vodka), he has only gotten better in time.

This may be a banner year for Geno, as this might not be the only Penguins award that he walks home with as the 33-year-old is, as previously stated, is lighting it up. He has always somewhat lived in the shadow of Crosby, but if you take him away, Geno is the team. Year in and year out, he has been the constant for Pittsburgh and is continuing to do it again.