Why is the Lady Byng trophy only for forwards?

Guido Sarducci

Registered User
Aug 7, 2012
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0
canyon meadows
Just give it to Jay Bouwmeester and tell him he can keep it forever. Problem solved.

You know it's a joke of a trophy when players who have won it get teased about it by other players.
 

we like our team*

Guest
lidstrom finished 2nd behind st. louis in 2011. i remember there being a push for him to win it that year by some writers

guaranteed the award wouldn't be dumped on so much if it didn't have the name "lady byng"
 

Chimpradamus

Registered User
Feb 16, 2006
16,634
5,249
Northern Sweden
The fact that Lidstrom didn't win the trophy every year he was in the NHL means it's a meaningless trophy.
That he didn't even win it once proves it's a ridiculous trophy. As you said, Lidström was the perfect example of a Lady Byng player, without ridiculing either the trophy or the player.

Who votes for the award anyway?
 

Sens Nation

Registered User
Sep 15, 2008
450
6
Ottawa
He's one of the two. Wow only three defenseman ever won the trophy. Lids got close but lost to Sakic.

Cody Ceci is another good candidate.

Wow, didn't even notice he only had 6 PIMs..

While that's impressive, he didn't have the offensive stats or the elite play to go along with it.
 

Mubiki

Registered User
Jan 10, 2013
1,870
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Because just like other "neutral" trophies it hinges on scoring a lot of points. The Norris, Hart, Selke, etc. all generally require that the recipient score a lot of points in addition to what the trophy states it's actually for.
 

Inkling

Same Old Hockey
Nov 27, 2006
5,655
679
Ottawa
Who votes for the award anyway?

The Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Same group who voted Ovechkin First Team All-Star at both left and right wing simultaneously.

Most of the issues people have with these trophies can be put down to lazy voters, rather than the trophies and criteria themselves.
 

Artemis

Took the red pill
Dec 8, 2010
20,860
2
Mount Olympus
Or maybe it was Bettman's attempt at creating equality in the NHL by naming an award of ...yeah I got nothing...

The Lady Byng trophy was first awarded in 1925, decades before Bettman was born. It was donated by the wife of the Governor General of Canada. She was a big hockey fan.

The award is for sportsmanship, gentlemanly play and a high level of playing ability. Three defensemen have won it (Red Kelly more than once).
 

CanadienShark

Registered User
Dec 18, 2012
37,357
10,610
Never even thought about it, but that's probably because that trophy literally means **** all. It's like winning an award at work for being nice.
 

CanadienShark

Registered User
Dec 18, 2012
37,357
10,610
The Lady Byng trophy was first awarded in 1925, decades before Bettman was born. It was donated by the wife of the Governor General of Canada. She was a big hockey fan.

The award is for sportsmanship, gentlemanly play and a high level of playing ability. Three defensemen have won it (Red Kelly more than once).

Anything that anyone doesn't like in the NHL can be simply blamed on Bettman. :sarcasm:
 

nik jr

Registered User
Sep 25, 2005
10,798
7
who cares
why is this a trophy?
when byng was created, intentionally injuring opponents, especially stars, was common. some of those cases became assault charges and decades before, hockey some players were actually killed by opponents during games.

byng was created to honor great players who didn't do stuff like that (specifically frank nighbor, winner of the 1st hart). it was a very prestigious award for many years.
 

Ceremony

blahem
Jun 8, 2012
113,012
15,083
Because the people who vote on it don't even try to do so with any attempt at legitimately understanding what a player should be in order to win it, hence why there's so much talk in this thread about penalty minutes as if that's the main criteria since that's what the focus seems to be nowadays. There's loads of players who are and have been exactly what this award is supposed to recognise who haven't won it, and I can honestly only assume the recent awarding of it constantly going to either Datsyuk or St. Louis is purely down to laziness on the part of the people voting.

As for the usual "who cares" and "why would you want to win that," comments that accompany it, have a look at the players that have won it. I'm sure it would really suck to play hockey like they do, or have players like that on your team.
 

Chimpradamus

Registered User
Feb 16, 2006
16,634
5,249
Northern Sweden
Yes, I can only agree a huge problem with the award are the lazy, ignorant people voting for it. Sort of like the Oscar's, where more than half the voters openly admitted they hadn't even watched the movies they were supposed to vote for. Some had only watched one of the movies and hence, voted for that one, while hacking on some movie from what they had heard about it.

I bet it's the same here. The voters for the Lady Byng don't have a clue what they're doing. Some other awards have the same problem, but the Byng is in the top, which is why the award is considered so ridiculous.

They should really rehaul the voting for all the awards and actually give the voting power to people who have the knowledge and competence to make a professional decision. Journalists should never be able to vote for any award, it should be hockey people and hockey people only (players, coaches, other people involved in the organization).
 

ManofSteel55

Registered User
Aug 15, 2013
31,864
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Sylvan Lake, Alberta
Defensemen in general have to play a more physical style. That can be confused with playing dirty sometimes.

Either way, the award is a joke anyway. Essentially, its a "who's the softest player" award.
 

HockeyThoughts

Delivering The Truth
Jul 23, 2007
12,542
275
Mississauga
It's a hunk of junk trophy and it's a travesty that this is a trophy while we still don't award the league's assist leader as if playmaking means nothing.
 

RaybCamn

Registered User
Oct 16, 2010
613
0
If I had a D-Man that was up for the Lady Byng I would take a very close look at his game. I dont want my d-men to play nice with the other team.
 

Sinistril

Registered User
Oct 26, 2008
1,736
1,100
I disagree that there should be seperate trophies. However, this is one that DEFINITELY, 100% should be voted on by players because only players know who has the most SPORTSMANSHIP. The idea that low penalty mins wins you this trophy is ABSURD, and needs to go. You can take penalties and have good sportsmanship. The two are not related. Especially in this league where refs hand out phantom penalties for nothing. Hell, even some of the terrible Bettman era penalties like puck over the glass are a great example. You could put the puck over the glass all day and still have good SPORTSMANSHIP.

Let players vote. Media knows nothing about this award except maybe a couple of those who get votes that are former NHLers and know the players.
 

Johnny Engine

Moderator
Jul 29, 2009
4,972
2,352
Wow. Maybe do some research.

Really though.

Talking and thinking about the Lady Byng Trophy does raise some questions about problems in hockey culture", though.

- Anytime someone says something like "why would I want to win a trophy named LADY Byng? ...ew", that's textbook sexism. You hear that sort of thing all the time.
- If the name and existence of the trophy falls under any kind of "ism", it would be classism. The Governor General's wife thought that the great unwashed playing hockey were too rough for her delicate sensibilities, so she donated a trophy to honour the player who most pleased her refined tastes.
- It's just flat out laziness on the part of the PHWA that has caused the trophy to be associated with soft forwards. It takes an enormous amount of discipline to play like Lidstrom, Bouwmeester, or Kaberle. It's a little more palatable to me when someone like Francis or Datsyuk win the award, but no one ever asked Kariya or Sellanne to hit anyone, so why is it remarkable that they stay out of the box? It's fine if you don't associate the Byng with tough, resilient, play, because it rarely honours that.
 

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