Who will win the 2020 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy? Will it be the Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, the Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon, or the St. Louis Blues Ryan O’Reilly? They are all great players, and all play the game with skill and professionalism.
Now, these three great players are candidates for the 2019-20 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that will be awarded “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
To my mind, each of these players deserves the award. They – all three – have a way of avoiding the penalty box but also performing at a high level. Those attributes have been recognized by the Professional Hockey Writers Association in becoming candidates for this award.
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Cast Your Vote for Who Should be the 2019-20 Lady Byng Trophy Winner
By the way, we encourage you to vote in the NHL Trade Talk poll about who you’d like to see win the Lady Byng. To do so, click on the link below.
Considering the Specifics
The Case for Auston Matthews
Matthews was on his way to a career season, although he’s already had three successful seasons previously. During 2019-20, he scored 47 goals in 70 games before the NHL was suspended on March 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was his personal career-high and was second in the NHL. Matthews also scored a career-high 80 points and would have likely come close to 100 points had the season not been stopped.
In total, the ever-improving young player was penalized only four times for eight penalty minutes all season. That also represented a career-low during his four seasons in the NHL.
The Case for Nathan MacKinnon
MacKinnon also had a career-low, only being penalized six times for 12 penalty minutes. And, for the third season in a row, the Avalanche star – who’s often linked to the great Sidney Crosby because they grew up in the same town in Nova Scotia – scored more than 90 points. He’s played seven NHL seasons, and during 2019-20 scored 93 points in 69 games.
What makes MacKinnon such a favorite for me is that he’s proudly on a team-friendly contract of $6.3 million through the 2022-23 season, which he signed so the Avalanche could keep their current roster together. And, he says he’ll do it again. For me, he’s hard not to like.
The Case for Ryan O’Reilly
O’Reilly is a Lady Byng finalist for the third consecutive season. He won the trophy in 2014 when he played for the Avalanche. Last season, he led the Blues to the Stanley Cup; and, during the 2019-20 season, he scored 61 points in 71 games. His penalty-minute total was only 10 minutes.
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We’ll Soon Know Who’ll Win
Matthews and MacKinnon are first-time finalists for the Lady Byng.
In Lady Byng voting last season, Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers received the award. This season’s winner of the 2020 Lady Byng will be revealed during the conference finals, whenever they are.
