Penguins Announce Winners of Team Awards for 2025.26 Season

The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced their team awards for the 2025.26 season. They are as follows:

• Most Valuable Player Award – Erik Karlsson
• Players’ Player Award – Sidney Crosby
• Unsung Hero Award – Noel Acciari
• Rookie of the Year Award – Ben Kindel
• Defensive Player of the Year – Blake Lizotte & Ryan Shea
• Baz Bastien Memorial (Media Good Guy) Trophy – Bryan Rust

Erik Karlsson has been selected as the recipient of the team’s Most Valuable Player Award, presented to him by Bryan Iams, Vice President & Chief Communications Officer at PPG. This is the first time he has received this recognition as a member of the Penguins and is the first player besides Sidney Crosby to win the award in the past six seasons.

In his third season with the team, he has set new highs in goals (14), assists (50) and points (64) since his time began with Pittsburgh in 2023-24. His goal total ranks tied for 10^th and his assist and point totals rank tied for eighth in the NHL among defensemen. He leads the Penguins in average time on ice per game (23:40) and total power-play time on ice (246:56).

In March, Karlsson recorded 24 points (9G-15A) in 17 games which led defensemen in each category and ranked second in the entire NHL in points, trailing only Nikita Kucherov’s 26. It was also the second-highest point total in a single month by a Penguins defenseman in franchise history after Paul Coffey recorded 28 points (6G-22A) in February 1990. The Swedish defenseman tallied nine multi-point games in March which was only one shy of Bobby Orr’s NHL-record of 10 in December 1974.

Captain Sidney Crosby was named the recipient of the Players’ Player Award presented by UPMC, which is voted on by the players for the teammate they feel best exemplifies leadership both on and off the ice. This marks Crosby’s eighth Players’ Player Award, presented to him by healthcare leaders at UPMC: Deborah Cannon (Director of Emergency Services), Adrian Mahoney (Professional Staff Nurse, Expert), Erin Capets (Professional Staff Nurse, Expert), Tess Napierkowski (Professional Staff Nurse, Expert).

Crosby leads the team in points (72) for the 16^th time in his career and added to his already NHL-best 21^st season averaging a point per game or better. On December 21, Crosby recorded an assist, which was his second point of the game, to surpass Mario Lemieux for the most points in franchise history (1,724). Shortly after, he became the first player in NHL history to record 50 overtime points with his game-winning goal against the Blue Jackets on January 4. 

The Canadian forward became just the sixth player ever to record at least 500 multi-point games after tallying a goal and an assist versus the Seattle Kraken on November 22. Later in the year, he recorded his 514^th career multi-point game with two assists against the Islanders which ranks third all-time.

For the second-straight season, Noel Acciari was named the recipient of the Unsung Hero Award which was presented to him by Mike Dytko & Nate Bell, recent FedEx Awards winners for their efforts to help others. Originally presented as a team award from 1969-99, it recognizes a player who consistently gives 150% effort but receives little recognition. This season, Acciari has a career-high 11 assists, and his 12 goals and 23 points are the second-highest totals of his career. He ranks second on the team in shorthanded time-on-ice per game (2:37) and is second on the team among forwards in blocked shots (59).

Ben Kindel was named the recipient of the Rookie of the Year Award presented by MSA Safety. He is the youngest forward in the league this season and he has 34 points (17G-17A) which ranks tied for seventh among NHL rookies. His 17 goals are tied for fourth among league rookies while his four game winning goals is one shy of tying the NHL record by an 18-year-old. He has the most points (34) by a Penguins rookie since Evgeni Malkin’s 85 points in 2006-07 and the fourth most by an 18-year-old in Penguins history.

Blake Lizotte and Ryan Shea were both named recipients of the Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Neighborhood Ford Store, with the award presented by Richard Bazzy, President and Owner of Shults Ford. Lizotte has missed 21 games this season but was one of the Penguins’ most effective forwards. He ranks third on the team in shorthanded time-on-ice per game (2:29) and has one shorthanded goal. Lizotte’s 12 assists are his highest total since joining Pittsburgh and his 19 points are one point shy of his best with the team. He averaged 13:52 in time on ice this season which is the second highest average of his career, and he helped the team average 2.84 goals-against per game when he was in the lineup.

The co-recipient, Shea, has enjoyed his best season of his career. He has led the team in plus-minus (+25) and has established new career-highs in every major stat category (77GP, 6G-25A-31PTS). In one of the best single games of his career, he had a single game career-high with three assists and a plus-5 with a team-high four blocked shots in the Penguins 7-2 win at Chicago on December 29. He ranks third on Pittsburgh in blocked shots (91) and has the best on-ice even strength goal difference on the team (24). 

Bryan Rust was named the recipient of the Baz Bastien Memorial Trophy (Media Good Guy Award). The award is presented by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) to the player who the local media wants to acknowledge for his cooperation throughout the year. The award is presented in the memory of the late Aldege “Baz” Bastien, Penguins general manager from 1976-83. This is the first time the award has been given out since the 2013-14 season.