Jets’ Neal Pionk Nominated for 2025 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

The Winnipeg chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PWHA) has nominated Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.

“It’s a prestigious honour,” Pionk said Wednesday of receiving the nomination. “Obviously a lot of guys have gone through some stuff and I’ve certainly had loss in my life in the last year and I just thank the guys for helping me through it.”

In October, 2023, Pionk had to deal with the intense grief that came after the death of his good friend Adam Johnson, who was tragically killed in an Elite Ice Hockey League game when his throat was cut with a skate blade.

“It was horrible. I would say it’s the biggest loss I’ve had to this day,” Pionk said before this season began. “I still have both of my parents, all of my grandparents. I’m fortunate and lucky. That one hurt the most that I can remember.”

“Just going through it, with the way that it happened, was brutal. Just the whole total shock of it,” he said. (‘From ‘Jets D-man Pionk still grieving loss of close friend Johnson,’ Winnipeg Free Press, Sept. 28, 2024.)

The 29-year-old has had something of a renaissance season in the last year of his four-year deal. Skating on the second pairing primarily with Dylan Samberg, he’s recorded nine goals and 28 assists for 37 points and a plus-21 rating while averaging 22:09 in ice time in 66 games. His ice time is the most since his rookie 2017-18 season with the New York Rangers.

He has been out with a lower-body injury since mid-March, but is a game-time decision for Thursday’s pivotal game against the Dallas Stars.

Pionk will join 31 other players from across the NHL as every team gets a nominee. The PWHA will narrow the list down to three finalists before voting on a winner at a later date.

Last season, then-Arizona Coyotes and now Utah Hockey Club goaltender Connor Ingram won the Masterton for his fortitude in overcoming obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression that nearly forced him to retire in 2021.