On Friday morning, the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) — of which I am a member — announced the 32 nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The Chicago Blackhawks’ nominee for the 2023-24 season is forward Colin Blackwell.
Blackwell’s two years in Chicago have been tough. He was banged up throughout his first season with the Blackhawks, a campaign that ended early when he needed sports hernia surgery at the end of March. He was expected to miss roughly 12 weeks from that injury, but a series of setbacks during his recovery over the summer kept him from performing even the most simple of daily tasks like taking his dog for a walk.
I don’t think anyone who was in the room when Blackwell first spoke with the media this season about his road to returning to the lineup will forget how moved he was when talking about how much it meant to just be skating again. There weren’t many dry eyes in the room.
Blackwell was finally able to get back into the Blackhawks’ lineup on Dec. 19 and has been a spark ever since. He scored his first career hat trick on March 10, almost exactly one year after his surgery took place.
The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.” Local chapters of the PHWA nominate a player from each team and then vote for the winner. The trophy was first awarded following the 1967-68 season.
The only Blackhawks to previously win the Masterton Trophy are Pit Martin (1970) and Bryan Berard (2004).