Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin missed a chance to get national recognition by being snubbed from the Lady Byng Trophy finalists list.
Each season, the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy goes to the NHL player who “player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”. It’s about as silly of an award as it sounds. This year, the finalists did not include Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, which is a bit surprising to me.
The finalists this year are Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, and Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues. Matthews got named a finalist not even a full year after reportedly pulling down his pants in front of a female security guard. O’Reilly once drunkenly crashed his pickup truck into a Tim Horton’s. Neither got charged with anything, but still, that doesn’t sound too “gentlemanly” to me.
Sure, the Lady Byng is awarded for what players do on the ice, not off of it. But maybe they should consider off the ice stuff. That’s a discussion for another day, though.
What’s Wrong With The Lady Byng
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The fact that Matthews was named a finalist exposes the greatest problem with the Lady Byng. It is voted on by the PHWA (Professional Hockey Writer’s Association). They vote for most awards, but for the Lady Byng, I don’t believe they are the most qualified to judge a player’s sportsmanship.
It should be the players and the referees who vote on the award. The players and referees know better than reporters which players are the most classy and who shows the most sportsmanship. Players play against each other. They know who shows sportsmanship. Likewise, referees know which players talk back to them and which ones respect them.
I’m willing to give O’Reilly a pass because his incident was five years ago. I believe people can change, but first, they must prove that they have. You can’t prove you’ve changed within a year. It’s simply not possible.
Why Slavin Should Have Been A Finalist
Another issue I have with the Lady Byng is it’s darn near impossible for a defenseman to win the award. It has only been awarded to a defenseman five times, and only three defensemen have won it. In the modern era, Brian Campbell (2011-12) is the only defenseman to win the award.
It’s baffling why defensemen aren’t considered more for the award. Shouldn’t defensemen who don’t commit penalties stand out? To me, they certainly do. That’s why Slavin would have gotten my vote. He plays a huge shutdown role for the Hurricanes. Before the season ended, Slavin was on pace to play the most minutes of his career.
Yet Slavin rarely commits penalties. In fact, he averaged only slightly more penalty minutes per hour at 5v5 than O’Reilly and Matthews. Considering the role Slavin plays, that’s mighty impressive. If you look at all strengths, among players who played at least 1,200 minutes, he finished third in the entire league in fewest penalty minutes per hour.
Slavin is hardly the first defenseman to be snubbed from the award. Every year, there’s a defenseman who does a really great job of not committing penalties. Yet you rarely see any blue liners get named as a finalist.
Slavin’s snub represents everything wrong with the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. How it’s voted on. Who votes on it. What it means. Until things change, the Lady Byng will continue to be a relatively meaningless award that fans joke about. And that’s sad.