Brad Marchand's relentless spirit shines as the Florida Panthers Bill Masterson nominee, showcasing resilience, dedication, and overcoming adversity throughout an incredibly impactful season on and off the ice.
The nominees for the 2026 Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy have been revealed.
Every April, the Professional Hockey Writers Association decides who is nominated from each team.
The Bill Masterson Trophy is awarded annually to the player who “best exemplifies qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.”
The responsibility for each selecting each individual team’s nominee falls on their local PHWA chapter.
This year, the Florida Panthers player nominated for the award from Florida chapter of the PHWA is Brad Marchand.
“It's a huge honor anytime people put your name up and you're voted for something like this,” said Marchand. “It also means a lot just to see the hard work and perseverance be recognized and be able to shed some light on the ups and downs that you kind of face throughout your career. And to see that other people see that as well, I just really feel honored and flattered and really appreciate it.”
Since arriving in South Florida, Marchand has become in integral part of the Panthers both on and off the ice.
His infectious personality has been a welcomed addition around the team, and his on-ice contributions have been irreplaceable.
After being acquired at last year’s Trade Deadline, Marchand made an immediate and profound impact on Florida’s second Stanley Cup run.
He finished second in voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy, racking up 10 goals and 20 points in 23 postseason games. Of those 10 goals, six of them came during the Stanley Cup Final, two of which were game-winners.
This season, Marchand led the injury-plagued Panthers in scoring and helped them maintain a fight for a playoff spot despite Florida playing almost the entire season with an extremely depleted roster and while dealing with, and playing through, his own ailments.
His season finally succumbed to those injuries last month, as Marchand joined a still-growing list of Panthers players who are unable to play.
“It was tough, because we had such high hopes coming into the year,” said Marchand. “We know we're an incredibly deep team, and we’re a contending team. We knew that we belonged at the top of the league to compete for the playoffs and a Cup, and day one at camp, a huge piece of our team went down. And then summer, Chucky (Matthew Tkachuk) and Nosey (Tomas Nosek) had big surgeries, and it just kind of slowly started to get harder and harder. The team wanted to fight so hard to give those guys an opportunity to come back and to play and compete for another Cup.”
Marchand also took a leave of absence from the Panthers toward the end of October to support one of his closest friends, a man named J.P. MacCallum, who had tragically lost his 10-year-old daughter Saleh to cancer.
After traveling back home to Nova Scotia, Marchand served as guest coach for the March and Mill Co. Hunters, the U18 hockey team that MacCallum serves as head coach for.
“He's been one of my best friends for a very, very long time, over 25 years,” Marchand said of MacCallum. “It still is a very tragic and heart wrenching situation and loss for everybody that knew Saleh and the family. It was a really tough time, one of the mentally toughest situations I've ever dealt with or gone through, or seen people close to me go through. It's just not something that you can relate to in any type of way and really know how to be there for someone in that type of situation, and I was just so grateful that the Panthers organization and everybody involved here just kind of allowed me to go be there for the family and be able to support them and honor Saleh. Not every team has that respect and allows the players to do that.”
Marchand also hosted multiple fundraisers to help support the family, and to honor Saleh’s memory.
The winner of 2026 Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy will be selected by the PHWA, with the three finalists expected to be announced during the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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Photo caption: Feb 27, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Brad Marchand (63) looks on against the Buffalo Sabres during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)