Cal Clutterbuck Named NY Islanders Representative for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded each season to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. 

The league has awarded the trophy every season since 1968 in honor of Bill Masterton, the only player to pass away due to injuries sustained on the ice. Masterton played 38 games with Minnesota North Stars during the 1967-68 season, suffering massive head trauma during a Jan. 13, 1968 matchup with the Oakland Seals. 

Each NHL team names one player as a representative for the Masterton Trophy, and this season, Cal Clutterbuck will represent the NY Islanders.

Clutterbuck skated in his 1,000th NHL game this season on Nov. 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Recently he was the first player in league history to be credited with 4,000 hits while being an alternate captain for the tenth straight season.

Clutterbuck has been injury-plagued for most of his career, partly due to his physical style of play. Four years ago, he missed significant time after taking an inadvertent skate blade from the skate of Patrice Bergeron to his wrist causing a nasty gash. He’s on pace for the first 82-game season of his career with only six games remaining. He’s already played in 60 games for the first time since 2018-19.

Since the team's inception, three Islanders have been presented the award on three occasions, Ed Westfall (1976-77), Mark Fitzpatrick (1991-92), and Robin Lehner (2018-19).

Though they weren’t members of the Islanders at the time, Butch Goring received the award with the Los Angeles Kings in 1977-78, and Glenn “Chico” Resch with the Colorado Rockies in 1981-82.

Clutterbuck has played 11 seasons with the Islanders and is in the final year of a two-year $3.5M contract. He hasn’t received a new contract and it appears he will be testing the free agent market come July 1.