 | |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability[1] |
| History | |
| First award | 1924–25 NHL season |
| First winner | Frank Nighbor |
| Most wins | Frank Boucher (7) |
| Most recent | Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings |
TheLady Byng Memorial Trophy, formerly known as theLady Byng Trophy, is presented each year to theNational Hockey League "player adjudged to have exhibited the best type ofsportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."[1] The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy has been awarded 90 times to 53 different players since it was first awarded in 1925. The original trophy was donated to the league byLady Byng of Vimy, then–viceregal consort of Canada.
The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of theProfessional Hockey Writers Association, and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10–7–5–3–1 points system.[2] Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The trophy is named in honour ofMarie Evelyn Moreton (Lady Byng),wife of theViscount Byng of Vimy, who commanded Canadian forces at theBattle of Vimy Ridge and who wasGovernor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926. Lady Byng, an avid hockey fan, decided to donate the trophy to the NHL in 1924–25.[3]
Lady Byng decided the trophy's first winner would beFrank Nighbor of the originalOttawa Senators. Late in the season, she invited Nighbor toRideau Hall, showed him the trophy, and asked him if the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. When Nighbor said he thought it would, Lady Byng, much to Nighbor's surprise, awarded him the trophy.[4][5]
AfterFrank Boucher of theNew York Rangers won the award seven times within eight years, Lady Byng was so impressed that she gave him the original trophy to keep. She then donated a second trophy in1935–36. When Lady Byng died in 1949, the NHL presented another trophy and changed the official name to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.[3] In 1962, the original trophy was destroyed in a fire at Boucher's home.[6]
Besides Boucher, a number of players have won the award multiple times, includingWayne Gretzky who won it five times,Red Kelly andPavel Datsyuk with four wins, andBobby Bauer,Alex Delvecchio,Mike Bossy,Martin St. Louis,Ron Francis, andAnže Kopitar with three each. Because of Boucher's seven wins, theNew York Rangers joinDetroit as the only two clubs who have won the award fourteen times, followed byToronto with nine wins,Chicago andBoston tied with eight, andLos Angeles with seven.[7]Adam Oates was a six-time finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy but never won.
Five players have won both the Lady Byng Trophy and theHart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in the same season:Buddy O'Connor (1947–48),Bobby Hull (1964–65),Stan Mikita (1966–67 and1967–68),Wayne Gretzky (1979–80) andJoe Sakic (2000–01). Mikita is also the only player to win the Hart,Art Ross, and Lady Byng trophies in the same season, doing so consecutively in the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons. Gretzky, Bobby Hull, and Martin St. Louis also won these three awards, but not in the same season. Bobby andBrett Hull are the only father–son combination to win the Hart and Lady Byng trophies.[8]
Bill Quackenbush,Jaccob Slavin,Red Kelly, andBrian Campbell are the only defensemen to have won the Lady Byng Trophy, with Kelly and Slavin being the only ones to win it multiple times. Kelly holds a record three as a defenseman (four overall). After Kelly, no defenseman won the award for a 58-year stretch, which ended in 2012 when Campbell received the honor, althoughNicklas Lidstrom narrowly lost toJoe Sakic in 2001. No goaltender has ever won the award.
| C | Centre |
| RW | Right wing |
| LW | Left wing |
| D | Defence |
| G | Goaltender |