As was announced mid-March, and to the surprise of very few people, Peter Mueller was chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (Colorado chapter) to represent the Avalanche as the "NHL player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." Adrian Dater has a piece up about it today. Last year, the former Colorado Avalanche player - and well-loved- Ian Laperriere won the award.


Mueller was chosen as the Avalanche representative for this award based on more than just his comeback, spectacular though that was. It was for the grace in which he dealt with the two concussions and what he brings to the community. In an earlier edition of the Denver Post (found here) Terry Frei had a great piece on Peter. He mentioned that for every home game this season, Mueller purchased tickets for groups of military members. Some of those, like him, had injuries to the brain due to trauma.

The list of players that were fully announced can be found in Dater's piece. Here are a few highlights:

• Matt Cooke as the representative for the Pittsburgh Penguins
• Tomas Fleischmann as the representative for the Florida Panthers
  
• Brian Elliott as the representative for the St. Louis Blues
• Jaromir Jagr as the representative for the Philadelphia Flyers

What are your thoughts on who the winner might be this year? Anyone you felt a surprise to see on - or, perhaps, off- the list of nominees?