Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog, and Winnipeg Jets forward Jonathan Toews are finalists for the 2026 Bill Masterton Trophy.
The award — as voted on by the Professional Writers’ Association — is handed out each season to the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”
Dahlin, 26, produced a sensational regular season anchoring Buffalo’s blueline while also managing daunting challenges at home. During a vacation last summer in France, Dahlin’s fiancé Carolina Matovac developed heart failure and had to spend several weeks in the hospital on life support. She required a heart transplant and remained overseas as Dahlin balanced his obligations to the Sabres with going back to their native Sweden (in November and February) to visit with Matovac.
The couple also revealed that Matovac had lost their unborn child amid her health struggles, compounding the heartbreak they’d already experienced. Matovac continued to heal and was declared healthy enough to join Dahlin in Buffalo in March. Through it all, Dahlin managed to put up career-best totals on the ice with 19 goals and 74 points in 77 games while guiding the Sabres to their first playoff berth in 14 years.
Landeskog, 33, returned for his first full regular season since missing three years with knee issues stemming from an injury suffered during Colorado’s Stanely Cup run in 2022. The veteran endured four procedures trying to correct the issue and even had knee cartilage replacement surgery in 2023. When Landeskog dressed for the Avalanche in last year’s playoffs, he became the first NHL player to ever come back after that sort of repair.
Landeskog persevered again in the 2025-26 season through broken ribs that contributed to him appearing in just 60 games, with 14 goals and 35 points. Colorado was a better club when Landeskog was with them, though — the presidents trophy winners were 45-7-8 this year when Landeskog was available and 10-9-3 when he was out.
Toews, 38, made it back to the NHL after sitting out for the last two and half years with multiple health problems, including long COVID and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS). The forward had been battling those ailments since 2020, and Toews eventually stepped away in 2023 in a shroud of uncertainty about his next steps. He travelled the world searching at alternative treatments and cures that would not only improve his quality of life but even give him the opportunity to step back into the NHL.
That was made possible when Toews was offered a one-year contract with his hometown Jets last summer and went on to produce 11 goals and 29 points in 82 games while also being one of the league’s premier players in the faceoff dot (at 62.1%).
The Masterton Trophy winner will be revealed in June.
