"Sure, it's nice to win it," began Alex Delvecchio, after winning the award for a third time in 1969.
"But the name takes a lot away from it and what it's meant to be."
(Berry, Jack. "Delvecchio 'Happy, but Unhappy.'" Detroit Free Press, April 29, 1969.)
NHL.com historian Dave Stubbs told this tale about the 1972 winner, "When Jean Ratelle was traded to the Bruins in 1975, the first thing that he did when he arrived was apologize to Don Cherry. He said, 'I'm sorry I won the Lady Byng.'"
"Back in our day, it was a different game," Gerard Gallant noted of the '80s and '90s, before admitting, "You heard a lot of guys say, 'I don't want to win the Lady Byng Trophy.'"
2003 winner Alexander Mogilny
called it a consolation prize. He skipped the Awards Show in Toronto -- Pat Quinn accepted the trophy in his stead -- despite playing for the Maple Leafs at the time.
Teammates Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards were both nominated in 2004. The problem was, neither wanted to take the trophy home.
Richards acknowledged, "Me and Marty were fighting over who didn't want to win it. Rammer [associate coach Craig Ramsay] kind of put us in our shoes. He told us, 'Don't say you don't want to win an NHL award, you play in the NHL and you should be honored.'"
(Erlendsson, Erik. "Richards Believes Award Is Special." The Tampa Tribune, June 11, 2004.)
"Consolation prize." "It sounds like a sissy award." "Left-handed compliment." "Which NHL club wants a gentlemanly hockey player?"
That's what people have written about one of the league's oldest, most underrated awards for too long.
Times may have finally changed.
"It's a different game than it was 20 years ago," said George McPhee, echoing Gallant. "The regular season is really, really hard now. I think it's harder now to make the playoffs than it's ever been -- might be easier once you get in to the playoffs to go deep -- but it's harder to get in.
"You have to be smart all year long. Have a team that doesn't take penalties. Be really disciplined.
"We need more players playing like that than in the past."
The numbers support McPhee's talking points.
Only 16 of 31 teams qualify for the post-season. Parity -- as evidenced by the once-unheard of Stanley Cup Final runs by the eighth-seeded 2012 Los Angeles Kings and 2017 Nashville Predators -- is at its peak. And as a whole, skaters are trying to avoid the penalty box.
The average NHL team enjoyed 437 power play opportunities in 1987-88, 380 in 1997-98, 351 in 2007-08, and 250 this year.
In fact, you can argue, because of its rarity, a "gentlemanly" player "combined with a high standard of playing ability" was
more valuable 30 years ago than now.
But anyway, these days, with so few power plays doled out, it's more important than ever to remain on the right side of that ledger. It's not as simple as they get one, you'll get one back now.
For 2018 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy nominee William Karlsson, a four-time winner helped glamorize a trophy that otherwise wasn't much celebrated in his native Sweden.
"Growing up, I remember [Pavel] Datysuk was winning it a lot. He was a pretty good player. That's the memory I have of the trophy.
"Stuff like takeaways, he could knock the puck off people. Just a complete player."
"A lot of guys in the league take pride in being a good sport," remarked 2016 winner Anze Kopitar.
2014 winner and 2018 nominee Ryan O'Reilly is certainly among them.
"I take a lot of pride in being effective and staying out of the penalty box.
"It means a lot to my family too. They respect it a lot, being seen as a sportsman. They always [believed in] integrity in the game."
Okay, so generally, players nowadays may actually want to take home the Lady Byng.
A sport which once asked, "Why
aren't you in the penalty box?" -- see the 1982 Paul Mulvey incident, for example -- seems to finally be asking, "Why are you in the penalty box?"
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Regardless, lingering mysteries endure about the Lady Byng, such as why it became almost solely an award for forwards.
Between 1954 winner Red Kelly and 2012 winner Brian Campbell, only forwards have taken home the trophy. That's longer than the Rangers' Stanley Cup curse!
Stubbs couldn't put his finger on why, "No one's ever said as of now, it's going to be a forward award."
There's no reason that I can think of for the Byng to be forward-exclusive. Imagine Connor McDavid zipping by you in tight quarters -- defensemen are probably challenged more than anybody to balance "sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct" with a "high standard of playing ability."
Stubbs pointed out that awards voting does evolve, "When the Selke came out, it was purely a defensive forward award.
"Patrice Bergeron and Bruce Cassidy, they both said the criteria has changed. Cassidy said, 'The guy nominated for that trophy has to put numbers on the board.'
"It's two-way forward now; it's not just a defensive forward."
With that in mind, hopefully more defensemen avenge Nicklas Lidstrom -- five-time Byng runner-up -- in the coming years.
Another question -- or criticism -- volleyed at voters is the apparent simplicity of their vote. One part, points scored. Two parts, PIMs. Shaken, not stirred.
That's fair, for sure, and historically, there hasn't been a tremendous deviation from this formula.
From 1949-50 -- when the NHL expanded to a 70-game schedule -- to now, the average Lady Byng winner has accounted for just 14.1 PIMs in a season.
Funny enough, Wayne Gretzky has the most PIMs for a post-WWII Byng winner with 34 in 1991-92.
From 1959-60, a near-point per game or better forward -- except for Campbell -- has won every year.
To differentiate this award from others, I wonder if there should be a stronger emphasis on the "sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct" aspect.
Perhaps referees should be involved in the vote?
Kopitar did stress that the Byng belongs to players who are "humble and respectful to each other and the referees and everything."
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I thought of the Lady Byng as "Gretzky's
Other Trophy" when I was a kid. Gretzky took it home five times, second-most in league history. However, four were awarded
after he stopped winning Harts.
I was wrong.
Brilliant and disciplined play should be prized, perhaps above all else.
Lady Byng of Vimy certainly believed it. Wife of Canada's then Governor-General and Ottawa Senators fan, she donated the trophy to the NHL in 1925, wishing to encourage gentlemanly play and sportsmanship.
In that time, Frank Boucher would set a mark even Gretzky couldn't pass, winning the trophy seven times in eight seasons.
After Boucher's seventh and final victory in 1935,
Ottawa Journal columnist Walter Gilhooly published an open letter to Byng, suggesting she let Boucher take permanent possession of the actual trophy. Byng agreed, giving Boucher the original Lady Byng, while donating another trophy for future winners.
This is Gilhooly's letter, from April 16, 1935:
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