EDMONTON – Connor Ingram went from being told not to report to Utah Mammoth training camp to starting in goal for the playoff-bound Edmonton Oilers.
His performance with the Oilers, where he seized the No. 1 goaltending job after three others failed to hold it, earned him the team’s nomination for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy on Wednesday.
The trophy is awarded annually to the NHL player who “best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” It is named after Minnesota North Stars forward Bill Masterton, who died following an on-ice injury in 1968.
The Oilers are one of eight teams that have never won the award. Ingram won it in 2023-24 with Arizona after overcoming mental health struggles and tying for the league lead with six shutouts.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” the 29-year-old Saskatoon native said of this season’s journey. “I never heard of someone not being invited to camp before. They put it in writing for me that they had asked that I not attend camp.
“At that point, it was just, whatever came next was what you were gonna deal with. And luckily it was here in Edmonton and (general manager) Stan (Bowman) gave me a chance, and I’ll be forever grateful.”
Ingram was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016, but never played for them and was traded to Nashville in June 2019. He recorded his first NHL win Oct 24, 2021, nine months after entering the league’s player assistance program to deal with obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and alcoholism.
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In October 2022, he was claimed off waivers by Arizona and spent two seasons there before the franchise moved to Utah.
Ingram was traded to Edmonton last September and called up from Bakersfield on Dec. 19 when Tristan Jarry, newly acquired from Pittsburgh, was injured.
“There’s a lot of things that happen in hockey that, as a human being, I understand,” he said of the Utah situation. “It’s when you get into how you treat people that bothers me. I’m an athlete, but I’m still a human being, and that’s what brothered me more than anything.”
The son of parents who were both teachers and first responders, Ingram struggled in Bakersfield, but credited the coaching staff there for giving him the chance to resettle his life and career.
“They never gave up on me. They kept letting me play,” he said of Bakersfield head coach Colin Chaulk and goaltending coach Kelly Guard. “A quote I always go back to is, ‘sometimes rock bottom’s a great place to build a foundation.’ That’s what it was. Nobody told me to quit, so I just kept playing, and here we are.
Ingram still deals with some mental health issues, but gets through those days with the help of his wife, Sarah, and simple walks.
“She sees it coming before I do most days,” Ingram said. “She takes care of me more than a wife probably should. I’ll be forever grateful for everything she does for me.
“I go for walks some days just to get some sunlight, but I mean, there’s nothing that I can do that’ll snap me out of it immediately. There’s no one fix for all of this.”
Regaining his position as a starting NHL goaltender helped restore his belief in himself.
“You have to believe in yourself,” he said. “There’s a lot of outside noise. You know, can you, can you not? If you believe you can, you’re gonna be just fine.”
The Masterton winner, which is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, will be announced at the league’s annual awards celebration.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
