Slavin of Hurricanes wins Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct
Defenseman took one minor penalty in 52 games this season
Jaccob Slavin wins the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Slavin, who led the Hurricanes this season with 22:59 of ice time per game, was assessed one minor penalty in 52 games, for delay of game/puck over glass, and often played against the opposing top line. It was the fewest penalty minutes among NHL skaters who averaged at least 20 minutes per game (minimum 10 games).
"Just the way I like to go about the game, obviously, is to try to stay out of the box," Slavin said. "I definitely don't like taking penalties. I'm not that physical a guy. I like to use my stick a lot, and so in doing in that I have to make sure my position on the ice is solid and making sure I'm setting myself up for success using skating abilities, and just trying to make sure my angles are good. … It's the combination of skating and stickwork and not playing too physical."
Slavin scored 15 points (three goals, 12 assists), was plus-22 and averaged 2:43 of shorthanded ice time per game. He is the fourth defenseman to win the award and second since 1954.
"It's exciting, and hopefully some more defensemen start winning it in the future," Slavin said. "It's an awesome honor to be able to be awarded this award."
RELATED: [Complete list of Lady Byng Trophy winners]
Slavin helped Carolina (36-12-8) finish first in the eight-team Discover Central Division and qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a third straight season. A first-time finalist, Slavin is the first Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers player to win the award since Ron Francis in 2001-02.
Francis, who presented the award to Slavin, was Hurricanes general manager when Slavin was selected in the fourth round (No. 120) of the 2012 NHL Draft. Francis is GM of the Seattle Kraken, who will begin play in the NHL next season.
"He's the one that brought me into this league," Slavin said, "and knowing the player that he was and himself winning this award was super special. But he had a big part in me coming into the League and just giving me the opportunity that I had my rookie year, instilling some confidence in me, just giving me that opportunity. So to be presented the award by him was something that was truly special."
Slavin has 60 penalty minutes in 429 regular-season games and has had 10 or fewer penalty minutes in four of his six NHL seasons. He has no penalty minutes in 31 playoff games.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon was second, and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews third as the other finalists for the award, which was voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Bill Quackenbush (1949), Red Kelly (1951, 1953, 1954) and Brian Campbell (2012) are the other defensemen to win the award.
NHL.com staff writer Tim Campbell contributed to this report
2021 Lady Byng Trophy voting
Points (1st-5th)
1. Jaccob Slavin, CAR 827 (73-9-6-1-1)
2. Jared Spurgeon, MIN 223 (1-17-14-5-9)
3. Auston Matthews, TOR 188 (8-6-10-5-1)
4. Aleksander Barkov, FLA 187 (4-14-8-2-3)
5. Artemi Panarin, NYR 159 (2-13-5-6-5)
6. Roope Hintz, DAL 117 (0-7-7-8-9)
7. William Karlsson, VGK 104 (0-5-7-9-7)
8. Anze Kopitar, LAK 73 (1-1-4-10-6)
9. Ryan Pulock, NYI 65 (0-4-4-5-2)
10. Chris Tanev, CGY 43 (0-3-3-1-4)
11. Nathan MacKinnon, COL 42 (3-1-1-0-0)
12. Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 39 (2-1-1-0-7)
13. Nate Schmidt, VAN 39 (0-4-2-0-1)
14. Cale Makar, COL 38 (0-1-2-6-3)
15. Cam Atkinson, CBJ 37 (1-2-1-2-2)
16. Mark Scheifele, WPG 33 (0-2-1-3-5)
17. Josh Bailey, NYI 28 (1-0-1-3-4)
18. Patrick Kane, CHI 24 (0-1-2-2-1)
19. Sean Couturier, PHI 22 (0-0-3-1-4)
20. Connor McDavid, EDM 21 (1-0-2-0-1)
21. Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK 20 (2-0-0-0-0)
22. Brayden Point, TBL 20 (0-2-0-1-3)
23. Joe Pavelski, DAL 20 (0-1-2-1-0)
24. Mitchell Marner, TOR 18 (0-1-1-2-0)
25. Patrick Marleau, SJS 17 (1-1-0-0-0)
26. Alex DeBrincat, CHI 15 (0-0-2-1-2)
27. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 13 (0-1-0-2-0)
28. Victor Rask, MIN 12 (0-0-2-0-2)
29. Nicklas Backstrom, WSH 12 (0-0-1-2-1)
30. Adam Fox, NYR 12 (0-0-0-3-3)
31. Ryan O'Reilly, STL 11 (0-0-1-2-0)
32. Tyson Barrie, EDM 11 (0-0-1-1-3)
33. Alex Iafallo, LAK 11 (0-0-0-3-2)
34. Jason Spezza, TOR 10 (0-1-0-1-0)
35. Jared McCann, PIT 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
35. Filip Zadina, DET 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
37. Nick Leddy, NYI 7 (0-0-0-2-1)
38. Jack Campbell, TOR 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
38. Phil Kessel, ARI 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
40. Miro Heiskanen, DAL 6 (0-0-0-2-0)
40. Jack Hughes, NJD 6 (0-0-0-2-0)
42. John Carlson, WSH 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
42. Roman Josi, NSH 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
42. Vladimir Tarasenko, STL 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
42. Teuvo Teravainen, CAR 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
46. Jonas Brodin, MIN 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
46. Andy Greene, NYI 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
46. Philipp Grubauer, COL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
46. Trevor Lewis, WPG 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
46. Ryan McDonagh, TBL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
46. Travis Zajac, NYI 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
52. Kevin Lankinen, CHI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
52. Alec Martinez, VGK 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
52. Valeri Nichushkin, COL 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
52. Victor Olofsson, BUF 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
52. Max Pacioretty, VGK 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
52. Mika Zibanejad, NYR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Points allocation: 10-7-5-3-1 (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
