from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Alex Lyon finally is a No. 1 goaltender in the NHL at age 31 and one of the main reasons a storied franchise has an opportunity to end a seven-year playoff drought.

Nobody saw this coming when he didn’t play the first five weeks of the season as third string. Nobody could have pictured this when he went undrafted out of Yale and appeared in 39 games for three NHL teams and 202 games for three AHL clubs in a six-year span.

That’s the epitome of dedication and perseverance. That’s why Lyon is the Detroit Red Wings’ nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

Lyon was surprised when informed he was chosen by the Detroit chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

“It’s been a long path for me and there’s been a lot of times where I didn’t necessarily know what was going to happen,” Lyon said. “I guess I just feel proud because I always tried to fight and continue to do the right things and continue to trot out a good attitude. It was really difficult at times.

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