Winnipeg Jets’ forward Gabriel Vilardi has been named the team’s nominee for the 2025-26 King Clancy Memorial Trophy. The King Clancy is presented to the player who “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”
Vilardi has been an outspoken advocate for normalizing discussions around mental health and has been open about his struggles with anxiety, panic attacks, and low self-worth since childhood. In a conversation with The Athletic earlier this season, he shared various coping mechanisms, such as building Lego, cold plunges, and meditating.
“My family is from Italy. A very old school area of Italy. For my dad to say he had anxiety growing up, it would have been … ‘F off,’ right? I think we’ve grown so much as a society, and especially in hockey, with mental health. It’s not like that anymore,” Vilardi told The Athletic. “For me, seeing the mistakes my family made — where maybe they didn’t see help — I look at that and say, ‘I have all of these things available to me. I have to do them because they didn’t do them and it’s going to help me.’” (From “Jets’ Gabriel Vilardi opens up about mental health struggles: ‘You just see the negatives’”, The Athletic, Dec. 6, 2025).
He is also heavily involved with the Jets’ Project 11 mental-health initiative, attending events at schools and Canada Life Centre and speaking alongside mental-health professionals. Additionally, he serves as a part-time coach with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy.
Vilardi has played a key role on the top six right wing and first power-play unit in this, his third season with the Jets since being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings. The 26 year old has set career-highs in goals (29), assists (35), and points (64) while playing in all of his team’s 78 games to this point.
The King Clancy nominees are selected by their respective NHL teams, as per the NHL. The winner will be chosen by a selection committee consisting of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and past winners of the King Clancy and the NHL Foundation Player Award.
Related: Jets’ Jonathan Toews Nominated for 2026 Bill Masterton Trophy
The nominee with the most votes will be named the winner and receive a $25,000 donation to benefit a charity or charities of his choice. The winner will also be eligible to elect that his club receive a grant from the NHL, up to $20,000, to help organize a special activation related to his humanitarian cause.
