Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov is the team’s nominee for this year’s Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award, voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, is awarded to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” The team made the announcement Wednesday morning.
Still standing tall. 👏
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 9, 2025
Congrats to Ivan Fedotov for being named our 2024-25 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee! The trophy is awarded annually to a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. https://t.co/M6HlQEsx6H
Fedotov has had a trying season as one of the two Flyers’ backup goalies, sporting a 6-13-3 record with a 3.12 goals against average and an .881 save percentage. His backstory is probably the reason he’s been nominated. After being taken in the seventh round of the 2015 draft, Fedotov played in various Russian leagues and was with CSKA Moscow in 2021-22. In May 2022, the Flyers signed Fedotov to an entry-level contract following the KHL season. But in early July of the same year Fedotov was detained by Russian authorities in St. Petersburg for allegedly evading military service. He spent his year of service near the Arctic Circle at a Russian military base.
Following his year of service, and some contractual issues between the Flyers and the KHL, the KHL team terminated Fedotov’s deal in March 2024. Weeks later, the Flyers finally got Fedotov across the pond to begin his NHL career almost a decade after being drafted. Fedotov made his NHL debut in relief against the New York Islanders on April 1, relieving Sam Ersson and stopping 19 of 21 shots. Former coach John Tortorella had high praise for Fedotov after the game while slamming the team’s effort in front of him.
If Fedotov were to win the Masterton he’d be the fifth Flyer to win it, the latest being former Flyer Oskar Lindblom in 2020-21. Last year Sean Couturier was the team’s nominee, returning from nearly two seasons of injury, surgery and rehabilitation to play almost a full season. Previous Flyers winners include Bobby Clarke, Ian Laperriere and Tim Kerr. Some of the other 31 nominees this year include Toronto’s John Tavares, Detroit’s Patrick Kane, and Buffalo’s Jason Zucker.
The award sees one nominee from each NHL team with the PHWA deciding the winner. The honor is nameed after Bill Masterton, who was injured in a game on Jan. 13, 1968 between the Masterton’s team, the Minnesota North Stars, and the visiting Oakland Seals. Masterton hit his head on the ice. He was pronounced dead Jan. 15 when he was removed from life support. He was 29.
