Ask any hockey expert, wanna-be expert, or fan about the NHL's Lady Byng Trophy, and you'll likely get some snarky comments about how it's awarded to the league's biggest twinkletoes and/or is an award for soft players who don't like to get touched too hard. For example, from Wild Hockey:
I'm not sure the Lady Byng is actually a trophy. I think at the NHL Awards Ceremony they just give the winner a bunch of roses and a tiara. I could be wrong about this.
The official wording is to give the award "to the National Hockey League hockey player voted to have shown the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with performance in play." In recent times, this has simply meant a player with a lot of points and the lowest penalty totals, even if said player whines a lot.
Despite what the naysayers tell you, I believe there is value in this award. Far too often, the media hype up big penalty minute totals as a sign of a tough, gritty player. Me? I see careless stick-work and a lack of discipline by the likes of a Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Witt, or Keith Tkachuk as putting their teams on the penalty kill and giving the opposition great chances to score.
If you can play the game with a high level of skill AND stay out of the penalty box, then you have added a lot of value to your team but not giving the opposition more time with the man advantage.
Looking at the leader boards, many of today's top scorers tend not to take a lot of penalties, so it becomes a matter of picking out the players with exceptionally low penalty minute totals.
So, who are the top candidates for the tiara ... err ... trophy?
