Mental health wins at NHL Awards 

It was when I was puttering about Thursday evening, doing a few household chores and drinking a few beers while ignoring my own realities, when I remembered the NHL Awards show was on the tube.

It wasn't like I cared much about the major trophies and who was going to win them - Nikita Kucherov was going to take the Hart as the player-of-the-year easy and his Tampa teammate Andrei Vasilevskiy was a shoe-in for the Vezina as top goalie. Oh, and 35 year-old Mark Giordano of Calgary was going to win one for the old guys by taking home his first Norris Trophy for best defenceman.

Right on all three, too.

Bill Masterton

No, it was one of the lesser known trophies that had piqued my interest: the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player who "best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey."

The award honours Bill Masterton, a college and amateur star of the early 60s who left senior hockey to play for the expansion Minnesota North Stars in 1967. Thirty-eight games into that season Masterton - sans helmet, as was the common practice of the day - hit his head on the ice following a check and died in hospital two days later, the only NHL player to ever die as a direct result of injuries sustained in a game.

The league honoured his memory with the trophy, which was was first presented following that 1967-68 season, and while it has been awarded to players as a reward for a long and distinguished career, the winners were usually those who had overcome serious physical injuries to continue to play the game they loved.

This season the sentimental favourite might have been Hall of Fame-bound Joe Thornton, who rehabbed from major surgery in both knees to ring up another excellent season for San Jose, or perhaps Nick Foligno, who posted respectable numbers for Columbus while dealing with health issues at home.

But I wanted to see how the hockey writers dealt with the third player nominated for the award: New York Islander goalie Robin Lehner.

Lehner announced in a brutally honest op-ed piece in The Athletic during training camp in September that he was dealing with addiction (alcohol, drugs, sleeping pills) and mental health issues (bi-polar disorder, PTSD, ADHD and depression) and that he had been seeking treatment.

Robin Lehner with the Bill Masterton Trophy

Lehner talked about the "dark places"  he found himself in as an NHL goalie, dark places full of self-medication and thoughts of suicide.

"I could not stand being alone in my brain."

He said in the story that he was not sharing his tale to make people "think differently" of himself as a professional goalie. "I want to help make a difference and help others the way I have been helped. I want people to know that there is hope in desperation, there is healing in facing an ugly past and there is no shame in involving others in your battle."

"My journey is still new. Every day is a battle and each day a new chance to grow as a man. It is time to take the 'crazy person' stamp from bipolar disorder. I am working hard to become the latest to battle this unfair stigma. Our battle together is just beginning. And now that I have begun my battle with what’s behind me, it’s time to battle what’s in front of me."

With the help of his new teammates and the Islanders organization - particularly GM Lou Lamoriello and coach Barry Trotz - Lehner was able to find sobriety and some measure of inner peace and then went out and had the best season of his career, posting a franchise record .930 save percentage and adding six shutouts. His performance helped Lehner score a Vezina nomination and win the William Jennings Trophy (with goaltending partner Thomas Greiss) for best combined goals-against average.

When asked before the show which trophy would mean more to him, he told TSN the choice was easy. "The Masterton means a lot more to me and my wife and kids," he said. "Just being nominated is huge and I think it's huge for everyone who has been supporting me, too."

Lehner's story struck a chord with the voters and he turned out  to be an easy choice for the Masterton. As someone who also suffers from depression, I couldn't be happier with the selection.


 Lehner, with his wife Donya tearing up in the audience, also delivered the best speech of the evening.


"I took that first step, got help and that was life-changing. That's something we have to keep pushing for. We have to end the stigma," he proclaimed. “I’m not ashamed to say I’m mentally ill. But that doesn’t mean mentally weak.”

Bravo to the writers for making the right choice. Bravo to the entire Islanders' organization for supporting their player when he needed it most. And bravo to Robin Lehner for speaking up and speaking out about mental health.

Because that's the only way we end the stigma.

Cheers!