Devan Dubnyk's surprising run with the Minnesota Wild has led the goaltender to being named a nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy by the Twin Cities chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.
The trophy is presented annually to the player "who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey."
Dubnyk, 28, re-established himself with the Arizona Coyotes earlier this season before being traded Jan. 14 to Minnesota. He had been traded for the first time in his NHL career last season by the Edmonton Oilers. The former first-round draft pick had played for three different teams (Edmonton, Nashville, Hamilton of the AHL) in 2013-14.
Since the trade, Dubnyk is 26-6-1 with a 1.70 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and five shutouts while making 34 consecutive starts. He's helped the Wild recover from 12th in the Western Conference to the fifth-best point total in the conference heading into Thursday night's home game against the New York Rangers.
Dubnyk has started 35 straight games dating back to his time with Arizona and is 35-11-3 this season. He's second in the NHL with a 2.05 goals-against and .930 save percentage.
Minnesota goaltender Josh Harding has been the team's nominee the past two seasons and was the NHL's recipient of the award in 2013.
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