The NHL award that has the poorest definition of what it is for is the Masterton Trophy. Officially it is given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. That is somewhat of a vague definition. In practise, it is an award given out for lifetime achievement in a rather random fashion. Last year it went to Ian Laperriere of the Philadelphia Flyers. He is a player who missed the entire season due to concussion issues. I suppose this means that he showed a very high level of perseverence and dedication to hockey without playing a game because he didn’t do very well in terms of sportsmanship. Laperriere ranks 56th all time in career penalty minutes with 1956 of them. Laperriere isn’t the career penalty minute leader who has won the Masterton Trophy. Gary Roberts won in 1996. He is 19th all time with 2560 PIMs. It is clear that this award is poorly defined and it is often awarded somewhat randomly...
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