Auston Matthews, Elias Pettersson and Jaccob Slavin were named finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy on Saturday.
The winner of the award, which is given annually to the player voted best to combine sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, will be announced at a later date.
Matthews led the NHL with 69 goals and was sixth with a career-high 107 points in 81 games. The Toronto Maple Leafs center was plus-31 and averaged 20:58 of ice time per game. He took six penalties all season and his 20 penalty minutes and five minor penalties were the fewest among the League's top 15 scorers. Matthews, who has scored at least 34 goals in each of his eight seasons, has never had more than 20 penalty minutes in a season.
Matthews helped Toronto (46-26-10) qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the eighth straight season.
A finalist for the third time in the past five seasons, Matthews was runner-up in 2019-20 and finished third in 2020-21.
Pettersson was third on the Vancouver Canucks in goals (34) and points (89) playing all 82 games this season. The center led Canucks forwards in ice time per game (19:39) while playing on both the power play (3:45 per game) and penalty kill (1:22) and took six minor penalties all season. Pettersson has never had more than 18 penalty minutes in his six NHL seasons.
Petterson was a big reason the Canucks (50-23-9) won the Pacific Division, their first division title in 10 years, and improved by 12 wins and 26 points from last season. Vancouver had not made the playoffs since 2020.
A first-time finalist, he would be the first Canucks player to win the award.
Slavin was third on the Carolina Hurricanes in ice time per game (20:56) and first in short-handed time per game (2:38), playing heavy minutes against the opposition's top lines. The defenseman had 37 points (six goals, 31 assists) in 81 games and took four minor penalties. Slavin ranked first in the NHL in ice time per game among the 35 skaters to play at least 50 games and have 10 penalty minutes or fewer. In his nine NHL seasons, Slavin has had more than 12 penalty minutes once, and has had fewer than 10 penalty minutes four times.
"You're not just giving it to somebody who doesn't take penalties," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Slavin. "It's elite players who are able to play within the confines of the rules, is the way I look at it. Any of these awards that you get nominated for are special, and the way he does it, it's special."
Slavin helped the Hurricanes (52-23-7) to a second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division and their sixth straight playoff appearance.
"The game's a hard game," Slavin said. "I think you can still play the game hard but you do it in the right way and treat people with respect out there."
A finalist for the third time in four seasons, Slavin won the award in 2020-21 and was runner-up in 2021-22.
Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar won the Lady Byng Trophy last season.
NHL.com independent correspondent Kurt Dusterberg contributed to this report
