Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames won the Lady Byng Trophy at the 2017 NHL Awards and NHL Expansion Draft presented by T-Mobile in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The Lady Byng is awarded annually to the player who best combines sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and ability. The other finalists were Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund and St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko.
Gaudreau, 23, was a first-time finalist after finishing fourth in Lady Byng voting last season. He averaged 18:29 of ice time in 72 games and was assessed two minor penalties. He had 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his final 16 games without being called for a penalty. Gaudreau led the Flames with 61 points (18 goals, 43 assists).
"It's pretty surreal," Gaudreau said. "Going from a small town in New Jersey to winning an award like this is something crazy, something I never thought I'd get the chance to do. You want to keep bringing them (awards) in, keep pushing for it. I think everyone can get better at anything they're doing.
"This is a good steppingstone for me, a pretty cool award. But I think there's a lot more special ones, as well, to win."
The Flames selected Gaudreau in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Draft. He has 204 points (73 goals, 131 assists) and 38 penalty minutes in 232 games with Calgary.
Granlund, 25, led the Wild with 69 points (26 goals, 43 assists), averaged 18:49 of ice time in 81 games, and had 12 penalty minutes. A first-time finalist, Granlund went 27 games between Jan. 5 and March 5 without being called for a penalty; he had 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in that span.
Tarasenko, who was a finalist for an NHL award for the first time, finished in the top 10 in the NHL in goals (39, tied for fourth) and points (75, 10th). The 25-year-old had 12 penalty minutes in 82 games. He averaged 18:28 of ice time in 82 games and was assessed one minor penalty in his final 31 games of the season; he had 25 points (16 goals, nine assists) in that span.
Pts. (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
- Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 906 (54-33-15-16-12)
- Vladimir Tarasenko, STL 738 (35-31-25-12-10)
- Mikael Granlund, MIN 445 (12-22-23-16-8)
- Marian Hossa, CHI 320 (17-13-9-3-5)
- Oscar Klefbom, EDM 264 (11-8-12-7-17)
- Auston Matthews, TOR 238 (2-14-12-15-15)
- Brandon Saad, CBJ 211 (1-10-15-12-20)
- Jason Pominville, MIN 127 (4-5-4-9-5)
- Henrik Zetterberg, DET 119 (5-1-7-8-3)
- Ryan O'Reilly, BUF 98 (1-2-7-11-6)
- Duncan Keith, CHI 67 (3-2-2-4-1)
- John Carlson, WSH 55 (2-1-4-2-2)
- Aleksander Barkov, FLA 54 (2-0-4-3-5)
- Connor McDavid, EDM 51 (3-3-0-0-0)
- Erik Karlsson, OTT 50 (3-0-2-3-1)
- Sidney Crosby, PIT 47 (2-3-0-2-0)
- Leon Draisaitl, EDM 46 (0-4-1-3-4)
- Marcus Johansson, WSH 37 (0-2-0-4-11)
- Jared Spurgeon. MIN 33 (1-2-1-0-4)
- Rickard Rakell, ANA 29 (0-2-2-1-2)
