It is a bit annoying that the Masterson is by default the "get back from injury" award. While getting back from a serious injury SHOULD be one of the ways that you could be nominated, there should br diversity in the kind of narratives worthy of said trophy.
Theodore won it for making a comeback after his son's death.
It's just that the award is typically based off of specific incidents, and injuries are the most obvious. It's difficult to figure out when is the proper time to give an award for "being short".
That's the simple answer. I'm a huge Desharnais fan and maybe in another year he may have been nominated - but not with the success story of Pacioretty.
At the end of the day, I'm extremely happy to have both guys on our team because they show a lot of character. Character builds teams. They have a lot of it.
Theodore won it for making a comeback after his son's death.
It's just that the award is typically based off of specific incidents, and injuries are the most obvious. It's difficult to figure out when is the proper time to give an award for "being short".
St Louis should definetly have won it by the same criteria.
Tim Thomas has been drafted, even if he didn't had it easy after.
I am NOT saying Pacioretty shouldn't win the award, that he doesn't deserve it, or anything of the kind. It's just that his story is less epic than Desharnais's, IMHO, regarding all the criteria that should define the Masterson.
It is a bit annoying that the Masterson is by default the "get back from injury" award. While getting back from a serious injury SHOULD be one of the ways that you could be nominated, there should br diversity in the kind of narratives worthy of said trophy.
The particular trophy has for the most part been the 'come back from serious injury' award. The person this award is named after, Bill Masterton, died from getting seriously injured from getting hit. There have been exceptions but for the most part, it's based off a single event rather than life.
I never even mentioned DD. I'm not saying either one deserves the award I am really on the fence about the whole thing. They both overcame a lot.
Desharnais obstacle was size. The majority of NHLers had weaknesses to overcome to make it to the NHL. So we should nominate a player because he overcame his poor skating to make it to the NHL? Should we nominate all the guys who have poorer God given skills than Desharnais who make it to the NHL? How did Desharnais really overcome much more than any other NHLer to make it to the NHL? If we are going to use size as something to overcome, we can find something in every NHLers game to give them this award.
The NHL should adjust scoring based on a player's height - so using 6' as the average for example, the team gets a 10% premium or discount based on the height of the scorer. So David's goals would be worth 1.5. But if Malkin scores, his goal is only worth 0.5.
That will make things fairer for the shorter guys while preserving the integrity of the Masterton
Desharnais obstacle was size. The majority of NHLers had weaknesses to overcome to make it to the NHL. So we should nominate a player because he overcame his poor skating to make it to the NHL? Should we nominate all the guys who have poorer God given skills than Desharnais who make it to the NHL? How did Desharnais really overcome much more than any other NHLer to make it to the NHL?
Buddy read the award details. Its exactly what DD went through, End of story. Like it or not. Like I said I am ok with either one winning
Given the way they award the Masterton these days, Pax is a lock, he has to be the team's nominee. Really although the award description would amply apply to DD, the truth is they give it out to guys who come back from injury almost always. I agree that in terms of showing dedication and overcoming adversity to make it in the NHL, however, DD is a more than worthwhile candidate. This guy wasn't drafted, spent a full year in the ECHL, had to work his way up to top line duty in the AHL and then did it again in the NHL. But to even pretend to be surprised Pax got the nod over him is really disingenuous. Ask 100 random NHLers who the Habs nominee was going to be and I bet you get almost 100 responses saying Pax.
Given that it's Rejean Tremblay pushing a french player over an English one, it's pretty easy to question his motives, but I certainly think DD would be a very deserving candidate. Thing is, Chara broke Pax's neck and no one except Dr. Recchi knew he would make a full recovery, much less come back and score 30. It's absolutely a no brainer that the team chose him as their candidate.
Max COULD have died, had the injury been just a tiny little bit different. The extreme risk he faced has in the act that resulted in his injury, not in the injury itself. And since the hockey world has already deemed Chara's act as a good hockey play, I don't think his candidacy is nearly as obvious as people think.
Plenty of players have had a much harder road to recovery after their injuries than Max. Markov, for instance. I think that Desharnais' candidacy would have had a lot of merit.
Given the way they award the Masterton these days, Pax is a lock, he has to be the team's nominee. In terms of showing dedication and overcoming adversity to make it in the NHL, however, DD is a more than worthwhile candidate. This guy wasn't drafted, spent a full year in the ECHL, had to work his way up to top line duty in the AHL and then did it again in the NHL.
Given that it's Rejean Tremblay pushing a french player over an English one, it's pretty easy to question his motives, but I certainly think DD would be a very deserving candidate. Thing is, Chara broke Pax's neck and no one except Dr. Recchi knew he would make a full recovery, much less come back and score 30. It's absolutely a no brainer that the team chose him as their candidate.
I'd be fine with DD too but the fact that idiot Tremblay supports it makes me want to oppose it. He's a reverse barometer for me, most of his article is a thinly disguised dis of the Habs for taking non-Francos. If DD was English, Tremblay wouldn't have said boo or would have argued for Darche.
Tho I do genuinely think Patches is more deserving.
Max COULD have died, had the injury been just a tiny little bit different. The extreme risk he faced has in the act that resulted in his injury, not in the injury itself. And since the hockey world has already deemed Chara's act as a good hockey play, I don't think his candidacy is nearly as obvious as people think.
Plenty of players have had a much harder road to recovery after their injuries than Max. Markov, for instance. I think that Desharnais' candidacy would have had a lot of merit.
But the way Patches responded to it in his play this season (and going forward presumably) is what we're talking about - he could easily try and avoid contact but he doesn't. He wouldn't be the same player or nearly as effective if he did.
the st-louis comparison with dd isn't a good one either. st-louis, although undrafted, was signed by the flames, bounced between the ahl and the nhl, not doing much, until the flames released him. the lightning then signed him and then, almost magically, at age 25, he becomes the guy we all know now. now quite the same as dd although typing this, i'd nominate st-louis. is it too late already
More and more of these awards are straying away from the things they were intended to recognize. This is one of those fuzzy ones that could go in a few directions and it is an award that could probably in some years have no valid nominees.
But for the life of me I am trying to figure out how anyone could rationalize the nomination of DD.
the st-louis comparison with dd isn't a good one either. st-louis, although undrafted, was signed by the flames, bounced between the ahl and the nhl, not doing much, until the flames released him. the lightning then signed him and then, almost magically, at age 25, he becomes the guy we all know now. now quite the same as dd although typing this, i'd nominate st-louis. is it too late already
maybe they can award it to all NHL players shorter than 5'9 as a group? They could all get miniature versions of it . . .
Does this idiot actually think that DD would want to win this because he's short? It's insulting.
This one single comment is 10x stupider than anything in RT's article, which was not a diss at MaxPac at all. And here's somebody else saying the same thing. Please feel free to shoot the messenger again.
Hey, does any idiot actually think that MaxPac would want to win because he just missed 18 games? It's insulting.
