Rangers' Jacob Trouba named winner of Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award
Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba reacts after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second period during Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series, Monday, May 13, 2024. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
Rangers captain Jacob Trouba was named the 2023-24 recipient of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award, given "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," the league announced Tuesday evening.
Trouba is the first Rangers player to earn the Messier Award since it was first presented on a season-by-season basis in the spring of 2007.
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Trouba and his wife Kelly have raised over $160,000 for the Garden of Dreams Foundation and the Epilepsy Foundation, predominantly through the sale of Jacob’s art. He began selling prints of his art online to support the two charities in the fall.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
