The Lady Byng nominees come in

by James Mirtle on Apr 24, 2009 2:59 PM CDT Comment 2 comments

I frankly have no clue how you vote for this one.

This year's nominees as the NHL's "most gentlemanly player" are Pavel Datsyuk (who has won the past three times), Zach Parise and Martin St. Louis. Sticking with the conventions used in the past, they're all high-scoring, low-PIM forwards.

By definition, the trophy is supposed to reward sportsmanship, not necessarily avoiding taking penalties. After all, in some instances, a player taking a hooking penalty is a good thing for his team and not necessarily "ungentlemanly."

The other thing that's irked me about this award for a while is the fact that only forwards seem to win. Which is why I put a couple defencemen on my ballot:

Nick Lidstrom, Detroit
Patrick Marleau, San Jose
Rod Scuderi, Pittsburgh
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit

Like I said, I'm not really sure how you're supposed to vote for this one, and I'll agree that Datsyuk's as good a winner as any (especially given he doesn't seem to mind accepting it, unlike some of his peers).

He may have a closet full of these things by the end of his career.

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Count the number of times each player holds the door open for the wife/girlfriend. Divide by TOI.

"Without good hard work, it is impossible to reach the pinnacle of success." - Anatoli Tarasov

by PRC on Apr 24, 2009 4:08 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Alfie for Lady Byng?

Alfie is amazing, but I wouldn’t nominate him for the Lady Byng. He plays a pretty chippy style at times, and any player who deliberately fires pucks AT people isn’t exactly exhibiting sportsmanship. Not that I want him to change. I like him just the way he is.

If there’s an award he should be nominated for, it should be the Selke. Compare his +/- with those of his linemates, and then consider who fills in on the PK, and that he always takes the majority of the forward minutes for the 5-on-3 PK.

by HockeyBroads.com on Apr 25, 2009 5:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs