Dahlin Named Masterton Trophy Finalist After 74-Point Season
Rasmus dahlin was named one of three finalists for the Bill Masterton Trophy after a season that mixed top-end production with a major off-ice hardship. The Buffalo Sabres defenseman finished with 74 points in 77 games while carrying a personal story that began last July in France.
The other finalists are Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog and Winnipeg Jets forward Jonathan Toews. The award goes annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.
Dahlin and Buffalo
Dahlin captained the Sabres through a season Buffalo fans will not forget quickly. The club had not made the postseason in 14 years, and he helped push it into one of the league’s best teams over the course of 2025-26.
His season was never straight line. Last July, his fiancee, Carolina Matovac, underwent an emergency heart transplant while the pair were vacationing in France, and Matovac later revealed that the couple lost their unborn child as well.
That recovery weighed on Dahlin early in the season, and he had trouble focusing. He stepped away from the team in November to be with her, then went home during Christmas before finishing the season strong.
Landeskog and Toews
Landeskog is up for the award for a second consecutive campaign. He missed three seasons because of knee injuries after leading Colorado to the Stanley Cup championship in 2022, then returned to post 35 points in 60 regular-season games and five points in five playoff contests so far.
Toews brings a different kind of comeback. The former Chicago Blackhawks captain won three Stanley Cup titles in the 2010s, then missed two full seasons because of long Covid and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome before returning to the ice unsure whether he would play again.
What the nomination says
Dahlin’s case sits at the center of this year’s field because the numbers match the story. He finished with 74 points in 77 games, led Buffalo to victory over the Boston Bruins in the first round, and also lived through a season in which family health concerns repeatedly pulled him away from hockey.
Carolina Matovac’s return to Buffalo added another layer to that arc when she came back and was welcomed by an adoring home crowd. For Dahlin, the nomination puts his season in the same frame as Landeskog’s knee comeback and Toews’ return after long Covid and CIRS: three players whose paths to the finalist list ran through far more than box scores.
The trophy now belongs to one of three finalists, with Dahlin’s profile defined as much by what he carried off the ice as by the production he delivered on it.
