Wild goalie Alex Stalock nominated for Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

Minnesota Wild goalie Alex Stalock has been nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.”

Before the start of the 2019-20 season, Stalock was not expected to play more than a backup role for the Wild. the Devan Dubnyk, despite coming off a rusty 2018-19 campaign, was Minnesota’s No. 1 goalie, and he was not about to be dethroned anytime soon. However, after Dubnyk spent time away from the game in order to care for a sick family member, Stalock wound up carrying the team to an admirable run in the regular season that helped earn them a play-in series against the Vancouver Canucks.

In 38 games, Stalock posted a 20-11-4 record with a 2.67 goals against average and .910 save percentage — some of the best numbers he’s recorded in his career.

When the Wild suit up against the Canucks in their five-game play-in series, one can fairly assume that it will be Stalock manning the crease.

There are a lot of excellent nominees for the Masterton — Bobby Ryan, Shea Theodore and Oskar Lindblom, to name a few — but Stalock surely deserves to be in the conversation.