While the bulk of the NHL award voting has yet to take place, the Kings have one potential winner already in goalie Pheonix Copley, who was nominated by the local media for the Bill Masterton Trophy. Each franchise has a nominee for the hardware awarded to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”

The unconventional spelling of his name may make him the first Pheonix to rise from the ashes, as the 31-year-old’s breakout performance came after languishing on the bottom rungs of the Washington Capitals’ organizational depth chart. Despite low expectations and a limited role entering his first campaign with the Kings, Copley defied doubters and capitalized on an unforeseen opportunity, stabilizing the Kings at a moment when porous goaltending may have been the Achilles heel for a team that had improved dramatically on offense.

“You have to kind of have a belief and a vision of where you want to go in order to get there. I definitely had that, but at the same time, you can’t get too far ahead of yourself,” Copley said earlier this season.

Copley appeared in 27 games in 2018-19 for the Caps. Despite his solid 16-7-3 record, he would make a solitary start over the next three seasons. He was bypassed in favor of netminders ranging from rookies Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov, both of whom have since moved on, to an aging Henrik Lundqvist, who ultimately never played a game for Washington because of a heart condition.

On March 6, Copley earned his 20th victory of the season and became the fastest Kings goaltender to reach that benchmark, which prompted him to defer credit repeatedly to a “special” group of teammates. Fittingly, that win came against Copley’s former club, the Capitals, which even he admitted was “awesome.”

Entering this season, Copley was projected not only to be a backup but likely a No. 2 goalie in the minors, given that Cal Petersen was beginning the first year of a $5 million per year extension, two-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick remained in the fold and 23-year-old Matt Vilalta was more of an up-and-comer at the minor-league level than the more seasoned Copley.

Yet Petersen’s struggles led to a demotion to the minors, swinging the door wide open for Copley. He glided through with poised, no-frills goaltending that helped diminish the turbulence the Kings had been experiencing. His play not only solidified his roster spot but allowed him to overtake Quick as the No. 1 goalie in short order. Copley even earned a one-year, one-way contract for next season worth $1.5 million. Seldom displaying emotion on the ice, Copley admitted he was excited by the developments of 2022-23.

“Absolutely, yeah. You dream of being in the NHL, so when you get there you don’t want to not enjoy it, but at the same time you don’t want to take it for granted because it’s where everyone wants to be and everyone’s battling for the jobs up here,” Copley said earlier this year.

Those words rang prophetic, when the Kings expanded a deal for coveted defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov by sending away Quick and bringing in Joonas Korpisalo from Columbus to challenge Copley. Though even the iconic Quick was a victim of competition, Copley has held his own with Korpisalo, leaving the question of the Kings’ Game 1 starter in the first round very much unanswered.

“We’re fortunate to have two that can play the way they play,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said last week. “It’ll take two to get the job done, I really believe that, and we have two.”

The Masterton Trophy was named for Bill Masterton, the former Minnesota North Stars center who succumbed to injuries that he sustained in a game against the Oakland Seals in 1968. Dave Taylor, Butch Goring and Bob Bourne all won the award while playing for the Kings. Charlie Simmer, Ian Laperriere, Tony Granato and Brian Boyle were all among former Kings who had the honor bestowed upon them while skating for other franchises.