After tearing up the Western Hockey League as a 15-year-old, Everett Silvertips defenseman Landon DuPont can add another accolade to his collection: the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s Rookie of the Year. The Silvertips posted the announcement to X on Thursday morning.
“The one thing that impresses me about Landon is how well he handles all of the outside noise and spotlight, so to speak,” Silvertips general manager Mike Fraser told The Herald over the phone on Thursday. “He’s very mature for such a young player, and he stays pretty level-headed and handles things well.”
Sensational. Exceptional. Rookie of the Year.
Landon DuPont, your @TheWHL Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy winner!#ForEverett pic.twitter.com/uF8V5HIjN9
— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) April 24, 2025
After becoming just the second player in WHL history to be granted ‘exceptional status,’ which allowed him to play full-time a year early, DuPont became the first rookie defenseman in 35 years to reach 50 points in a season. He ultimately finished with 60 points on 17 goals and 43 assists in 64 games, which led all WHL rookies and was tied for seventh among defensemen. The first overall pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft, DuPont immediately stepped in to a top four defensive role with the Silvertips, and helped propel them to the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the regular season champions.
“We talked a lot as a staff before the season started to make sure we give him the opportunity to earn the ice (time) that he gets,” Fraser said. “I think by the end of the first weekend, we kind of joked with each other that we all decided he should definitely be in our top four, and he earned that. … He’s exceptional status for a reason.”
According to the WHL’s press release, DuPont is the eighth defenseman to win the award and the first since Seth Jones, who won in 2012-13 with the Portland Winterhawks and now plays in the NHL for the Florida Panthers. DuPont is also the third Silvertip to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Peter Mueller (2004-05) and Kyle Beach (2006-07).
The Winterhawks just ended Everett’s season on Tuesday, advancing to the Western Conference Finals with a 4-2 win in Game 7, but DuPont continued his dominance in the postseason. Despite missing three games with an upper-body injury, DuPont finished third on the Silvertips in playoff scoring with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 10 games. He closed out the playoffs on a four-game goal-scoring streak, including the first goal in Game 7 before Portland ultimately came back to win.
“I think just his ability to realize that the game gets amped up a little bit more in the playoffs,” Fraser said about what impressed him most about DuPont’s first WHL postseason. “He was right there, one of our best players throughout the playoffs, I felt.”
You can read the Herald’s feature on DuPont from March 27 here.
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