Awards

Award ledger

Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award

Leadership and Growing the Game / 19 seasons awarded

Description: First awarded in 2006-07, the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award is presented annually “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.” Voting: Mark Messier solicits suggestions from team and League personnel to compile a list of potential candidates for the award. However, the selection of the three finalists and ultimate winner is Messier’s alone. History: Presented in honor of one of hockey’s great leaders, the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award was first handed out in 2006-07. 2024-25 Winner: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin won the 2024-25 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. Ovechkin, playing in his 20th NHL season and 16th as Washington’s captain (tied for the third-longest tenure in League history), completed “THE GR8 CHASE” on April 6 to surpass Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history – a record “The Great One” held for more than 31 years. Ovechkin finished the campaign with 897 goals, three more than Gretzky totaled during his legendary career, to propel the Capitals (51-22-9, 111 points) to the No. 2 overall record in the League and the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2016-17. The 39-year-old Ovechkin, despite fracturing his fibula and missing nearly six weeks, shared third place in the NHL with 44 goals in 2024-25 alone (65 GP). Only one other player in League history has scored as many goals in a season at age 39 or older: Gordie Howe, who registered 44 at age 40 in 1968-69 (76 GP w/ DET). The No. 1 overall pick from the 2004 NHL Draft also continued to build his legacy off the ice. Since 2005-06, Ovechkin’s rookie season, there has been significant youth hockey growth in the Potomac Valley (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). Hockey is offered to children year-round in local arenas, ball hockey rinks and schools. In the past 20 years, hockey players in the Potomac Valley have increased by 71 percent, totaling more than 20,000, while youth hockey players (18 and under) have increased by 43 percent, surpassing 12,000. More than 9,000 players also have been introduced to hockey since the Capitals launched their Future Caps “Learn to Play” program in 2016, supported by the NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund. An additional 1 million students in Washington, D.C.-area elementary and middle schools participate in the Capitals’ “Hockey School” program annually. Available to students in Grades 1-8 at more than 1,600 schools, the initiative includes street hockey equipment, a custom written curriculum and staff training. This program also is supported by the NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund. Fourteen outdoor inline/ball hockey rinks also have been built, or refurbished, by the Capitals in the past two decades in response to increased demand for access to youth hockey.

Season	Result	Recipient	Team
2024-25	Winner	Alex Ovechkin	WSH
2023-24	Winner	Jacob Trouba	NYR
2022-23	Winner	Steven Stamkos	TBL
2021-22	Winner	Anze Kopitar	LAK
2020-21	Winner	Patrice Bergeron	BOS
2019-20	Winner	Mark Giordano	CGY
2018-19	Winner	Wayne Simmonds	NSH
2017-18	Winner	Deryk Engelland	VGK
2016-17	Winner	Nick Foligno	CBJ
2015-16	Winner	Shea Weber	NSH
2014-15	Winner	Jonathan Toews	CHI
2013-14	Winner	Dustin Brown	LAK
2012-13	Winner	Daniel Alfredsson	OTT
2011-12	Winner	Shane Doan	PHX
2010-11	Winner	Zdeno Chara	BOS
2009-10	Winner	Sidney Crosby	PIT
2008-09	Winner	Jarome Iginla	CGY
2007-08	Winner	Mats Sundin	TOR
2006-07	Winner	Chris Chelios	DET