Wild's Jared Spurgeon Nominated for Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -The Twin Cities chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA) today announced the nomination of Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the National Hockey League's (NHL) Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The trophy is presented annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Spurgeon has tallied 39 points (10-29=39), a plus-30 rating, 14 power-play assists (PPA), two game-winning goals (GWG), 113 shots and 83 blocked shots in 64 games this season. He leads the team defensemen in scoring and goals and ranks second on the team in plus/minus rating, third in PPA and T-4th in assists. The 5-foot-9, 166-pound native of Edmonton, Alberta, set a career-high seven-game assist and point streak (1-7=8) from March 29-April 10. The streak matched the franchise record for longest assist streak by a Wild defenseman in team history (Suter, 7g, 12/11-12/23/13) and the longest point streak by a Wild defenseman for the fourth time. The blueliner became the all-time leader in games played by a Wild defenseman on March 3 at PHI, skating in his 744th career game to surpass Nick Schultz's 743 games (2001-12).

The right-shot defenseman was named the second full-time captain in team history on Jan. 3, 2021. He is the franchise leader in goals, power-play goals (PPG), GWG, shots on goal and blocked shots by a defenseman and ranks second in points, assists, PPA, power-play points (PPP) and hits. He ranks second all-time in games played (771), third in assists, fourth in shots on goal, T-4th in overtime goals and fifth in PPA. Spurgeon owns the fewest penalty minutes among NHL defensemen that have played in at least 600 games since entering the NHL in 2010-11 and was named a finalist for the 2021 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.
The winner of the Masterton Trophy is selected by a poll among the 32 chapters of the PHWA at the end of the regular season. NHL writers first presented the trophy in 1968 to commemorate the late Bill Masterton, who played for the Minnesota North Stars and exhibited to a high degree the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Masterton died on Jan. 15, 1968, as a result of head injuries suffered during a game.
Matt Dumba (2020-21), Alex Stalock (2019-20), Ryan Suter (2018-19), Matt Cullen (2017-18), Eric Staal (2016-17), Nate Prosser (2015-16), Devan Dubnyk (2014-15), Josh Harding (2013-14, 2012-13), Clayton Stoner (2011-12), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2010-11), Guillaume Latendresse (2009-10), Kurtis Foster (2008-09), Aaron Voros (2007-08), Marian Gaborik (2006-07), Wes Walz (2005-06, 2000-01), Alexandre Daigle (2003-04), Dwayne Roloson (2002-03) and Richard Park (2001-02) were previously nominated for the award. Harding was named the 2013 recipient of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy on June 14, 2013, to become the first player in Wild history to win a voted-on NHL Award. Dubnyk was also named the recipient of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy on June 24, 2015 and Dumba was finalist for the 2021 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.