Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

Sport	Ice hockey
Given for	player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability
History
First award	1924–25 NHL season
First winner	Frank Nighbor
Most wins	Frank Boucher (7)
Most recent	Anze Kopitar Los Angeles Kings

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is a special award in the National Hockey League (NHL). It is given each year to the hockey player who shows the best sportsmanship and polite behavior. This player must also have a high standard of playing ability. Think of it as an award for being a super skilled player who always plays fair and respects others on the ice!

This trophy has been given out 90 times to 53 different players since it started in 1925. The first trophy was a gift to the league from Lady Byng of Vimy. She was the wife of Canada's Governor General at the time. The Governor General is like a representative of the King or Queen in Canada.

Sports journalists who cover hockey vote for the winner at the end of the regular season. They pick their top five players based on sportsmanship and skill. Then, three finalists are announced, and the winner receives the trophy at the NHL Awards ceremony after the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Story Behind the Trophy
Great Players Who Won the Award
Images for kids
See also

The Story Behind the Trophy

The trophy is named after Lady Marie Evelyn Moreton Byng. She was the wife of Viscount Byng of Vimy. He was the Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926. Lady Byng loved hockey very much! In the 1924–25 season, she decided to create an award for the NHL.

Lady Byng chose the first winner herself: Frank Nighbor from the original Ottawa Senators team. Near the end of that season, she invited Nighbor to her home. She showed him the beautiful trophy and asked if the NHL would like to use it as an award for its most gentlemanly player. Nighbor thought it was a great idea. To his surprise, Lady Byng then gave him the trophy right there!

Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers was an amazing player. He won this award seven times in just eight years! Lady Byng was so impressed that she let him keep the original trophy forever. Because of this, she donated a second trophy in the 1935–36 season.

When Lady Byng passed away in 1949, the NHL decided to honor her even more. They created a new trophy and officially changed its name to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Sadly, the original trophy that Frank Boucher kept was destroyed in a fire at his home in 1962.

Great Players Who Won the Award

Many talented players have won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy multiple times. Frank Boucher holds the record with seven wins!

Other famous players who won it many times include:

Wayne Gretzky, who won it five times.
Red Kelly and Pavel Datsyuk, each with four wins.
Bobby Bauer, Alex Delvecchio, Mike Bossy, Martin St. Louis, Ron Francis, and Anže Kopitar, each with three wins.

The New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings teams have had the most winners, with fourteen awards each. The Toronto Maple Leafs are next with nine wins.

Some players have won the Lady Byng Trophy and another big award, the Hart Memorial Trophy (for the league's most valuable player), in the same season. These players are Buddy O'Connor (1947–48), Bobby Hull (1964–65), Stan Mikita (1966–67 and 1967–68), Wayne Gretzky (1979–80), and Joe Sakic (2000–01). Stan Mikita is the only player to win the Hart, Art Ross (for most points), and Lady Byng trophies all in the same season, and he did it twice!

It is rare for defensemen (players who focus on protecting their own goal) to win this award. Only a few have, including Bill Quackenbush, Jaccob Slavin, Red Kelly, and Brian Campbell. Red Kelly and Jaccob Slavin are the only defensemen to win it more than once. No goaltender (the goalie) has ever won the Lady Byng Trophy.

The most recent winner, for the 2024–25 season, was Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings. This was his third time winning the award.