How Anze Kopitar won the 2015-16 Lady Byng

Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings followed his Selke Trophy win by capturing the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, which is given to “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Kopitar had 52 first-place votes, and finished ahead of Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Loui Eriksson of the Boston Bruins. Kopitar is the first Los Angeles player to win the Lady Byng since Wayne Gretzky captured his third with the club in 1994.

As is tradition, the Byng usually goes to a player with a lot of points and not many penalty minutes. Kopitar had 74 points in 81 games and just 16 PIMs. 

Here’s how the voting broke down:

Patrick Kane, who was accused of sexual assault before last season, got a first-place vote for the Lady Byng. Ryan O’Reilly, who is facing trial for impaired driving and allegedly crashing his pickup track into a Tim Horton’s, finished fifth in the voting. But we’re sure they’re super nice people on the ice. 

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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