As mentioned earlier, the finalists for this year’s Bill Masterton Trophy -- given annually to the player best exemplifying perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey -- are Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson, Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul and Montreal’s Max Pacioretty.
Before the vote, a few things to consider:
-- This award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.
-- The Maple Leafs are quite familiar with this trophy. Phil Kessel, Toronto’s leading scorer this season, won the Masterton in 2007 after missing 12 games because of testicular cancer mid-season. A year later, then-Leafs forward Jason Blake won the award after playing a full 82-game season following his diagnosis with chronic myelogenous leukemia.
-- The last Canadien to win the award was Saku Koivu in 2001-02. Koivu overcame non-Hodgkin lymphoma to resume his captaincy duties for Montreal.
-- No Senator has ever won the Masterton.
Onto the poll...
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