Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal, who has dealt with personal heartbreak this season while maintaining professionalism on the ice, has been nominated for the 2018 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
The annual award, decided by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. is given to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It is named for the only player in NHL history to die because of injuries suffered in a game.
Staal was nominated by the Carolina chapter of the PHWA after enduring a season in which he and his wife, Heather, lost their infant daughter, Hannah, because of a terminal birth defect.