Kris Letang named nominee for 2018 Masterton Trophy!

The Pittsburgh chapter of the PHWA has nominated Kris for the Masterton Trophy. The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the NHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.” All 31 NHL cities nominate a player, with 3 finalists being chosen in June. Those finalists are the nominees for the award presented at the NHL Awards in the summer.

This is Kris’ 3rd nomination, he was nominated in 2014 and 2015.

Great quotes from Post Gazette article – which you can read here (also source for our post)

“It’s a great honor, but at the same time it’s always because of an injury or something that happened,” Letang said.

Letang admits he sometimes wonders if there’s anything he could have done in his career to avoid the injuries that have kept him off the ice for substantial time. As he said, the Masterton Trophy is a significant honor, but it also usually indicates a player is coming back from a severe injury. All things considered, Letang likely would rather not be in the position to have been nominated for the award three times.

But if he played it a little bit safer? He wouldn’t be Kris Letang.

“I always think about it,” he said. “What if some nights I didn’t take those hits and I just tried to live another day? But it was me. It’s my personality. I’m a guy that’s trying on every little play. I won’t live with regrets. I’m part of a team that they know what kind of player I am and I’m ready to put everything on the line. I won’t have any regrets on that.”