You don’t dream of winning the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Stephen Johns certainly didn’t.
Since 1968, the Masterton has been awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. It’s become the NHL’s version of the Comeback Player of the Year award, and winners typically have dealt some hardship that altered their career arc rather drastically.
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“The one award that everybody doesn’t want to win because that means you had to endure something that wasn’t a fun journey,” Johns said, when informed he was nominated. “But when you get through that and look back on it, you look at all the positives that experience brought to my life. So it’s a huge honor.”
Johns was out of the NHL for 22 months, dealing with post-traumatic headaches and post-concussion syndrome. Throughout his absence, there was a lingering question about whether his career was over. During that time, he met with countless doctors trying to figure out the constant headaches that wouldn’t go away.
“It’s something that changed me,” Johns said. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to come back. It was frustrating. There were some dark times I didn’t know if I’d be able to play again.”
For his perseverance and dedication to hockey, Johns has been nominated for the Masterton by the Dallas chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Johns and the other 30 nominees were unveiled this week, with voting for the Masterton to be unveiled later this summer when the NHL rolls out its plan for the awards.
Johns not only returned, but did so at a level that was equal to — if not better than — his level of play before the injury. He solidified the Stars’ defensive top four and scored an emotional goal on Feb. 3 against the New York Rangers with his parents in attendance.
After scoring that goal, Johns fought back tears as he told reporters there were times when he thought that might never happen. He added that his parents had been supportive and gone through a difficult journey watching their son potentially lose his NHL career.
“Throughout this whole process, it wasn’t just me going through hell. As parents, they want to help — and (for) them to be here and to see that, I probably know my dad was for sure crying,” Johns said at the time. “I’m pretty excited to go see them and give them both a big hug. As parents, they want to help, but they couldn’t, and I know they were hurting the whole time I was, too. So that’s the only thing going through my mind was going through the line and finding them in the stands and pointing at them.”
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Throughout the process, the Stars gave Johns his space and treated him like a person rather than a hockey player. The main directive was making sure Johns the person could return, and there wasn’t internal pressure to rush back onto the ice.
“There is a time when you have to say there is a bigger picture (than hockey),” Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “There is a person and him getting better and looking after his life.”
Nill went into the 2019-20 season planning on Johns not playing again in the NHL. He was supportive and wanted to help Johns get back to the ice, but even at the onset of training camp, Nill told media members he wouldn’t address Johns’ future. He asked everyone to give the defenseman his space.
Johns is extremely thankful for that approach, and said it allowed him to really focus on his recovery. By December, Johns started practicing with the NHL team and felt well enough that he could potentially return. A month later, after missing 47 games, he returned to an NHL lineup on Jan. 18 against the Minnesota Wild.
In 17 games, Johns averaged 17 minutes and 40 seconds per game, the second-highest total for his career. He had five points and 50 hits. His average of 2.94 hits per game led the Stars in that category.
If Johns were to win the Masterton Award, he’d be the first Stars player to do so since the franchise moved to Dallas. Al MacAdam won the award with the Minnesota North Stars during the 1979-80 season. Masterton’s No. 19 is also retired in Dallas after the forward died from injuries that occurred in a game in 1968 with the North Stars.
Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports