Barkov of Panthers wins Lady Byng Trophy

LAS VEGAS -- Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers won the Lady Byng Trophy as the player voted to best combine sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability at the 2019 NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone on Wednesday.

It was the third time in four seasons Barkov has been a finalist but the first time he's won; he finished second in 2015-16 and third in 2017-18.

"Every year, I see the other guys who have been nominated here. Not just this trophy, but every trophy," Barkov said. "You look at how they play and how good of an example they set. For example, seeing (finalists) Ryan O'Reilly and Sean Monahan, seeing how good they are. I'm just really happy right now."

The center set a Panthers record with 96 points (35 goals, 61 assists), passing Pavel Bure (94, 1999-00); was second in the NHL in takeaways (100); and was tied for fifth in minor penalties drawn (34).

RELATED: NHL Awards results

Barkov was fourth among forwards in average ice time (22:21) and was assessed four minor penalties and eight penalty minutes, tied for second-fewest in the NHL with teammate Evgenii Dadonov among those who played 82 games.

"I kind of know what the rules are and not [to] take those stupid penalties," Barkov said. "You've got to know when you're getting a penalty or not. There's a place to take a penalty, you've got to take it. Fortunately, that wasn't a thing for me this year."

Barkov is second Panthers player to win the award, joining defenseman Brian Campbell in 2011-12, and is the fourth Finland-born NHL player with at least 90 points in a season, joining Olli Jokinen (once), Teemu Selanne (six times) and Jari Kurri (eight times).

"Even right now, it's like I did something right," Barkov said. "I didn't even know how good to feel, but I'm happy."

The other finalists were Calgary Flames center Sean Monahan and St. Louis Blues center Ryan O'Reilly.

Monahan had NHL career highs in goals (34), assists (48) and points (82), taking six minor penalties.

O'Reilly had NHL career highs in assists (49) and points (77) and was assessed six minor penalties. He finished second in Lady Byng voting in 2017-18.

The winner was selected by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season; each voter ranks his top five candidates on a 10-7-5-3-1 points system.

2018-19 Lady Byng Trophy voting
Pts. (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Aleksander Barkov, FLA 1463 (128-18-10-1-4)
2. Ryan O'Reilly, STL 713 (12-52-30-23-10)
3. Sean Monahan, CGY 568 (3-30-44-30-18)
4. Morgan Rielly, TOR 356 (2-20-16-34-14)
5. Connor McDavid, EDM 148 (7-2-8-6-6)
6. Matt Duchene, CBJ 138 (0-7-10-11-6)
7. Samuel Girard, COL 100 (0-8-5-4-7)
8. Auston Matthews, TOR 85 (2-2-3-9-9)
9. Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 78 (4-1-4-3-2)
10. Jared Spurgeon, MIN 75 (1-4-4-3-8)
11. Jason Pominville, BUF 73 (2-3-4-2-6)
12. Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJS 70 (2-1-4-6-5)
13. Patrick Kane, CHI 65 (2-5-1-0-5)
14. Evgenii Dadonov, FLA 54 (1-3-2-2-7)
15. Teuvo Teravainen, CAR 50 (1-1-1-5-13)
16. Jaccob Slavin, CAR 34 (0-3-0-3-4)
17. Alex Tuch, VGK 30 (0-1-2-3-4)
18. Mitch Marner, TOR 29 (0-0-3-4-2)
19. Alex DeBrincat, CHI 26 (0-0-2-5-1)
20. Colton Parayko, STL 25 (0-1-1-4-1)
21. John Klingberg, DAL 20 (0-0-3-0-5)
22. Nate Schmidt, VGK 18 (1-0-1-1-0)
23. John Tavares, TOR 17 (1-1-0-0-0)
t-24. Dominik Kahun, CHI 16 (0-1-1-1-1)
t-24. Elias Pettersson, VAN 16 (0-1-1-1-1)
26. Tyler Seguin, DAL 14 (0-0-1-2-3)
27. Sidney Crosby, PIT 13 (0-1-1-0-1)
28. William Karlsson, VGK 11 (0-1-0-1-1)
29. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 11 (0-0-2-0-1)
t-30. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, VGK 10 (1-0-0-0-0)
t-30. Elias Lindholm, CGY 10 (1-0-0-0-0)
32. Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK 10 (0-1-0-1-0)
33. David Krejci, BOS 10 (0-0-1-1-2)
34. Artemi Panarin, CBJ 8 (0-1-0-0-1)
t-35. Mark Scheifele, WPG 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
t-35. Joe Thornton, SJS 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
37. Tomas Hertl, SJS 7 (0-0-1-0-2)
t-38. Nicklas Backstrom, WSH 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
t-38. Andy Greene, NJD 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
t-38. Anze Kopitar, LAK 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
41. Brayden Point, TBL 6 (0-0-0-2-0)
t-42. Dan Girardi, TBL 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
t-42. Roberto Luongo, FLA 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
44. Gustav Nyquist, SJS 4 (0-0-0-0-4)
t-45. Sean Couturier, PHI 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-45. Matt Cullen, PIT 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-45. Claude Giroux, PHI 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
48. Noah Hanifin, CGY 2 (0-0-0-0-2)
t-49. Sebastian Aho, CAR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Anthony Beauvillier, NYI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Jake DeBrusk, BOS 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Joonas Donskoi, SJS 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Ryan Ellis, NSH 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Tyler Ennis, TOR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Phil Kessel, PIT 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. David Pastrnak, BOS 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Eric Staal, MIN 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Steven Stamkos, TBL 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Derek Stepan, ARI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Zach Werenski, CBJ 1 (0-0-0-0-1)