WINNIPEG, April 9, 2025 – The Winnipeg Jets Hockey Club is proud to announce that defenceman Neal Pionk has been named the team's nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy by the Winnipeg chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA). The Masterton Trophy is awarded annually by the National Hockey League to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Pionk, 29, was selected by the Winnipeg chapter of the PHWA for his ability to endure despite the personal tragedy of losing his best friend and former University of Minnesota-Duluth teammate Adam Johnson last season. Pionk persevered, despite the emotional toll of Adam’s death, and has delivered one of the best seasons of his NHL career in 2024-25.
Pionk, an undrafted free agent who signed with the New York Rangers out of UMD in 2017, has played 66 games for the Jets this season. The Omaha, Neb. native has posted 37 points (9G, 28A) and 44 penalty minutes to help Winnipeg to the best record in the NHL. Pionk was acquired by Winnipeg on June 17/19 and has recorded 254 points (43G, 211A) and 296 PIMs in 533 career NHL games for the Jets and Rangers.
Pionk played most of the 2023-24 season under the weight of losing Adam Johnson to a horrible skate-cut accident suffered on Oct. 28/23 while playing for the Nottingham Panthers in Great Britain’s Elite Ice Hockey League. Pionk spoke openly about using his time at the rink with Jets teammates to help with the healing process. He also spent time in the summer with the Johnson family to further his grieving process.
"It's a prestigious honour,” Pionk said about his Masterton nomination. “Obviously a lot of guys have gone through some stuff and I've certainly had loss in my life in the last year and I just thank the guys for helping me through it… The first initial shock of it is tough. Tough for everyone. Where it gets tough is when the noise settles down and I know some people have had it way worse than I've had. Specifically talking about his family, so that's the thing I keep trying to reach out to them. Even in the past couple of weeks because obviously everyone reaches out right away and even a couple of weeks after that but there is a time where the noise settles down. That's where you kind of got to regroup and reach out again.”
The Masterton Trophy was first presented by the NHL Writers' Association in 1968 to commemorate the late William Masterton, a player for the Minnesota North Stars, who was originally from Winnipeg and exhibited to a high degree the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Masterton died on Jan. 15/68 after sustaining an injury sustained during a hockey game.
Pionk is one of 32 candidates around the NHL. The winner is selected in a poll of all chapters of the PHWA and will be revealed when the NHL holds its annual awards. A grant from the PHWA is awarded annually to the Bill Masterton Scholarship Fund, based in Bloomington, MN, in the name of the Masterton Trophy winner.
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