Surprising trophy wins.

Gambitman

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Jan 30, 2019
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So while reading the thread on Bobby Hull with the Jets, I looked up his stats and was very surprised to see he had won a Lady Byng. I also thought of him as a player who played with a real “edge” and not a guy you’d think of as a Lady Byng winner. Was the trophy looked at different back then? More for guys who played tough but clean?(I think of Gretzky as a stereotypical Lady Byng player) Or do I have the wrong picture of Hull in my head.(I never saw him play.)
What other surprise trophy wins have there been.
 

VanIslander

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I was floored when Brian Campbell was nominated and dumbstruck when he won the Lady Byng.

The last defenseman to win it was Red Kelly back in 1954.
 
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MS

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I was floored when Brian Campbell was nominated and dumbstruck when he won the Lady Byng.

The last defenseman to win it was Red Kelly back in 1954.

The most ridiculous thing about that win was that Niklas Lidstrom embodied the award and should have won it about 10 times (was a finalist 5 times) and then in his last season with a chance to right that wrong ... they finally give it to a defender and it’s Brian Campbell.
 

kaiser matias

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The most ridiculous thing about that win was that Niklas Lidstrom embodied the award and should have won it about 10 times (was a finalist 5 times) and then in his last season with a chance to right that wrong ... they finally give it to a defender and it’s Brian Campbell.

I remember there was a big campaign in the media the year before for Lidstrom to win it. A lot of articles talking about how he'd never won it, a defenceman hadn't won it in decades, and so on. It kind of seemed really forced, even if true, but there was not enough momentum to give it to Lidstrom. But seems like the word got out and the result was Campbell's win the next year, ending the streak for defencemen.
 

Big Phil

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Nov 2, 2003
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So while reading the thread on Bobby Hull with the Jets, I looked up his stats and was very surprised to see he had won a Lady Byng. I also thought of him as a player who played with a real “edge” and not a guy you’d think of as a Lady Byng winner. Was the trophy looked at different back then? More for guys who played tough but clean?(I think of Gretzky as a stereotypical Lady Byng player) Or do I have the wrong picture of Hull in my head.(I never saw him play.)
What other surprise trophy wins have there been.

There is nothing wrong with the Byng, at all, it is a nice award to win but for some reason there sometimes this idea that you haven't more or less be a wimp. Look at the award, especially past winners from the original 6 era, lots of very, very tough players to win it. Clean yes, but still tough. Would it surprise people that Don Cherry once coached three either former, current or future Byng winners on those Big Bad Bruins teams (Bucyk, Middleton, Ratelle)? I like the award, not that it adds to your potential HHOF resume, but you have to be a good player to win it.

I will admit I was very surprised that Lidstrom never won the Byng. I think he finished 2nd five different times. Oates is another one who finished 2nd several times. Martin St. Louis too, although they finally gave it to him at the end of his career. I remember the media always talking about how weird it was that a defenseman never won it since Kelly in 1954. I always chalked it up to the fact that they are in a tougher position NOT to take penalties because they are defending more often but even so taking all of that into consideration how did Lidstrom not win it?

Then Brian Campbell wins it? What? Did the voters just start to change their idea of it?
 

VanIslander

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Sep 4, 2004
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Brian Campbell hit less...
Of course, everyone and their dog knows of Campbell's huge hit on Umberger. In fact, it has been partly blamed for why he became overpaid, receiving an 8-year, $57+ million contract he clearly didn't deserve.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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every single time a canuck won an award i was totally surprised, no matter how deserved (or less than totally deserved). you just get used to people not paying close attention to what's going on in the pacific time zone.

1992: bure wins the calder. i am beyond myself that amonte didn't win it. he had the most goals, he had the most points, and he was on the friggin' rangers.

1997: samsonov wins the calder over ohlund. not the least bit surprised.

2002: bertuzzi is left off the second all-star team because voters didn't know what position he played. yup.

2003: well of course naslund isn't winning that hart trophy.

2010: completely and totally floored henrik won that hart trophy over the league's two darlings. i mean, i think we all remember how the NHL's entire marketing strategy was crosby vs ovechkin and they had right there the first hart trophy where you could pit crosby directly vs ovechkin.

2018: even though i think almost anyone would have objectively given the calder to elias pettersson, there were enough knocks against him, the games missed, totally and completely trying up in the last quarter of the season, etc., that i was sure that dahlin or binnington would have stolen it.
 

Pominville Knows

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every single time a canuck won an award i was totally surprised, no matter how deserved (or less than totally deserved). you just get used to people not paying close attention to what's going on in the pacific time zone.

1992: bure wins the calder. i am beyond myself that amonte didn't win it. he had the most goals, he had the most points, and he was on the friggin' rangers.

1997: samsonov wins the calder over ohlund. not the least bit surprised.

2002: bertuzzi is left off the second all-star team because voters didn't know what position he played. yup.

2003: well of course naslund isn't winning that hart trophy.

2010: completely and totally floored henrik won that hart trophy over the league's two darlings. i mean, i think we all remember how the NHL's entire marketing strategy was crosby vs ovechkin and they had right there the first hart trophy where you could pit crosby directly vs ovechkin.

2018: even though i think almost anyone would have objectively given the calder to elias pettersson, there were enough knocks against him, the games missed, totally and completely trying up in the last quarter of the season, etc., that i was sure that dahlin or binnington would have stolen it.
Overall i find the presented proof of bias to be somewhat lacking.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

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Overall i find the presented proof of bias to be somewhat lacking.

i wasn't talking about bias. i was talking about a combination of 75% my/our paranoia out west and 25% east coast voters usually being asleep when canucks games are being played.

another example is luongo finishing second for the hart, ahead of a goalie in new jersey, but also second for the vezina, behind a goalie in new jersey.

a grey area is daniel sedin losing the hart to corey perry when he'd led the league in scoring for the last few months of the season, was leading the team that had been #1 in the league the entire season. that said, i still would have voted for MSL in 2011 if i had a vote. and obviously perry played in the same time zone as daniel did.
 

wetcoast

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Nov 20, 2018
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The most ridiculous thing about that win was that Niklas Lidstrom embodied the award and should have won it about 10 times (was a finalist 5 times) and then in his last season with a chance to right that wrong ... they finally give it to a defender and it’s Brian Campbell.

True enough but maybe the voters thought that Lidstrom wouldn't have room in his trophy case for the Lady Byng?:sarcasm:
 
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wetcoast

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Brian Campbell hit less and took fewer penalties than Lidstrom.

Lidstrom was also on the ice for more PPGA than Campbell career high every season in his career except his final season (He had 15 to Brian career high of 16) and the short season 94-95 were he had 9.

Campbell had an excellent career and I always remember his goalpost in game 7 that would have put the Canucks out in the first round in their 2011 SC run and probably hastened the rebuild (retool) for the Canucks..
 

wetcoast

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i wasn't talking about bias. i was talking about a combination of 75% my/our paranoia out west and 25% east coast voters usually being asleep when canucks games are being played.

another example is luongo finishing second for the hart, ahead of a goalie in new jersey, but also second for the vezina, behind a goalie in new jersey.

a grey area is daniel sedin losing the hart to corey perry when he'd led the league in scoring for the last few months of the season, was leading the team that had been #1 in the league the entire season. that said, i still would have voted for MSL in 2011 if i had a vote. and obviously perry played in the same time zone as daniel did.

Sadly many of my fellow Canuck fans do suffer from this condition.

I think that with Hank winning the Hart (thanks in large part due to a concerted effort by Canuck management to out the eastern voting bias and voters going to sleep early) that the bias that was probably held was thrown out the window for the most part.
 
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wetcoast

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Of course, everyone and their dog knows of Campbell's huge hit on Umberger. In fact, it has been partly blamed for why he became overpaid, receiving an 8-year, $57+ million contract he clearly didn't deserve.

I don't know about that, he was after all coming off a 5th place finish for the Norris and still provided pretty good value for that contract as he winded down his career as an excellent #2 Dman who could step up and play as a decent #1 as well.
 

Dennis Bonvie

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Lidstrom was also on the ice for more PPGA than Campbell career high every season in his career except his final season (He had 15 to Brian career high of 16) and the short season 94-95 were he had 9.

Campbell had an excellent career and I always remember his goalpost in game 7 that would have put the Canucks out in the first round in their 2011 SC run and probably hastened the rebuild (retool) for the Canucks..

What does this have to do with the Lady Byng?
 

wetcoast

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Nov 20, 2018
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What does this have to do with the Lady Byng?

The first part was in response to this comment.

Brian Campbell hit less and took fewer penalties than Lidstrom.

The second part was just a personal observation I had about the 2011 Canucks team which was always 1 goalpost away from not advancing past the first round and frankly has nothing to do with the thread.......:eek:
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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Sadly many of my fellow Canuck fans do suffer from this condition.

I think that with Hank winning the Hart (thanks in large part due to a concerted effort by Canuck management to out the eastern voting bias and voters going to sleep early) that the bias that was probably held was thrown out the window for the most part.

tbh, in retrospect i think the heightened media attention because of the 2010 olympics helped a lot that year too.
 

wetcoast

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Nov 20, 2018
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tbh, in retrospect i think the heightened media attention because of the 2010 olympics helped a lot that year too.

You mean on Vancouver right as Henrik didn't really stand out in the Vancouver Olympics very much at all.

But one never knows the voters for NHL awards are often fickle and hard to predict what criteria they are using from year to year for the Hart.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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Oct 10, 2007
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You mean on Vancouver right as Henrik didn't really stand out in the Vancouver Olympics very much at all.

But one never knows the voters for NHL awards are often fickle and hard to predict what criteria they are using from year to year for the Hart.

yeah, i think there were just more reporters making trips to vancouver in the leadup to the olympics, with the side benefit of them seeing more canucks games and hearing more canucks talk.
 

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