LADY BYNG SHOULD GO TO D-MEN ONCE IN A WHILE
Performing in a gentlemanly manner while playing defence is much more difficult
The Lady Byng Trophy is awarded to the NHL player who “exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
The rules don’t state the player awarded it has to be a forward, but since 1954, only one defenceman — Brian Campbell in 2012, when he scored 53 points and accumulated just six penalty minutes — has won the award. Only three defenders have won the award since it was first awarded to Frank Nighbor in 1924.
That’s right — in 91 years, only Campbell, Bill Quackenbush (1949) and Red Kelly (1951, 1953 and ’54) have won Lady Byng while manning an NHL blueline. Quackenbush, playing for the Detroit Red Wings, won when he scored six goals and 23 points and had zero penalty minutes in 60 games.
Kelly was an elite defender and won it three times playing for the Red Wings while also being named a first team all-star, also winning the Norris Trophy in ’54 as the league’s best defenceman.
Kelly won the Lady Byng again in 1961, but he was playing centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs by then, and scored 70 points in 64 games.
The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on the award, and I’m lucky enough to be one of the voters. Ever since I’ve become a voter, I’ve researched the awards and, while there is no perfect process, I’m perplexed how only one defender has won the award since the mid1950s.
Defencemen are required to slow down or inhibit the actions of the attacking forwards. I’d argue it requires more control to play defence in a gentlemanly way and within the rules than it does to play forward.
It seems the Lady Byng has become a trophy awarded to a forward who had a really good offensive season, wasn’t a ruffian and didn’t take too many penalties.
But if a defender does the same, he doesn’t garner the same recognition. Even Nick Lidstrom, who was the epitome of sportsmanship and won seven Norris trophies from 2001-11, never won the Lady Byng, finishing second in voting for the award four times.
It doesn’t tarnish his Hockey Hall of Fame career, but it seems odd to me how a player as dominant as Lidstrom, who played as much as he did every season, never won.
Not only are defencemen in a position to defend and attack the puck carrier more often, which means a higher chance of taking a penalty, they are also on the ice more often than top-end forwards.
This season, Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames, Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues and Mikael Granlund of the Minnesota Wild have been named the three finalists.
Tarasenko had a career-high 75 points and finished 10th in scoring. Granlund had a breakout season scoring 26 goals and 69 points. His previous career best was 44 points. Gaudreau had the lowest point total of his career, 61, but he was whistled for just two minor penalties. But he was also fined $2,000 for embellishment, which in my world is the opposite of sportsmanship.
I recognize Gaudreau took many uncalled-for slashes to his hands this season. I wrote about how asinine it is the NHL allows their stars to be hacked and whacked needlessly, but having a Lady Byng finalist who was flagged twice as a diver seems contradictory.
Tarasenko and Granlund each took only six minor penalties.
But why do voters overlook defenders like Roman Josi and Oscar Klefbom? Consider playing time in the equation.
Gaudreau took two penalties in 1,331 minutes of playing time. Tarasenko had six penalties in 1,514 minutes, while Granlund had six in 1,524.
Josi scored 49 points in the regular season and took only nine penalties in 1,805 minutes on the ice. He was 10th among defenders in scoring. Klefbom played 1,834 minutes and took only three penalties — two holding calls and one tripping minor — and produced a career-best 12 goals and 38 points. He played against the top forwards for large portions of the season, but still found ways to defend them without taking a penalty.
It seems low penalty-minute and high point totals are the main requirement for voters when selecting a forward, yet defencemen don’t get the same consideration. If a forward is top-25 among forwards in scoring with low PIMs, they are often the winner, but if a defender is in the top-point totals among defencemen, voters don’t give them the same recognition.
I can’t understand why that always seems to be the case.