Sundin Claims Inaugural Neely Award

By Commish (Denver), October 28, 2026

Earlier this offseason, RSHA Head Office announced the creation of a new league award. Originally named the Masterton, the Cam Neely Award is to be given out to the league's Most Valuable Captain. The term "valuable" was intentional, because a team's captain's can mean different things to different franchises - sometimes a captain might be the best overall player, or other times it could mean a captain who spearheaded a huge turn around or successful season for his team.

This year's winner met all criteria. Mats Sundin led the Los Angeles Archers to a huge improvement, going from seventh in the West to winning the President's Trophy. Along the way, all Sundin did was win the Art Ross Trophy with 33 goals and 75 assists for 108 points. It was a career year for Sundin, after three average to below average seasons.

Sundin was the unanimous winner, earning all 15 first place votes that were received. Detroit's Kimmo Timonen was second, and Winnipeg's Michael Nylander placed third in the vote, as both captain's led their teams to strong seasons.

Neely Award

1. Mats Sundin - 75 pts (15-0-0)

2. Kimmo Timonen - 20 pts (0-6-2)

3. Michael Nylander - 15 pts (0-3-6)

4. Steve Sullivan - 11 pts (0-3-2)

T5. Paul Kariya - 4 pts (0-1-1)

T5. Henrik Sedin - 4 pts (0-1-1)

7. Mariusz Czerkawski - 3 pts (0-1-0)

8. Filip Kuba - 3 pts (0-0-3)