By Basil Stroh
NHL Public Relations
Los Angeles Captain Honored in Special Surprise Trophy Presentation
NEW YORK (June 12, 2025) – Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar is the 2024-25 recipient of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded “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.
The Kings’ captain – who is spending his offseason in his native Slovenia – learned the news from his children, who handed him special drawings of the Lady Byng before giving him the replica trophy.
The 37-year-old Kopitar, who previously received the award in 2015-16 and 2022-23, is the third player this century with at least three Lady Byng Trophy wins. The others: Pavel Datsyuk (4x) and Martin St. Louis (3x).
Kopitar prevailed in a wide-open race in which the top five finishers were separated by fewer than 200 voting points. Kopitar received 50 first-place votes en route to 856 voting points, ahead of Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (second, 793), Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (third, 782), Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin, a two-time Lady Byng Trophy winner (fourth, 760 points) and Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki (fifth, 694).
Kopitar, in his 19th NHL campaign and ninth as the Kings’ captain, placed second on the team with 21-46—67 in 81 contests to help Los Angeles (48-25-9, 105 points) match franchise records for wins and points in a season. Kopitar – who finished the campaign in 28th place in NHL history for career assists (838) and in 40th place for career points (1,278) – also ranked among the 2024-25 League leaders (using respective minimums) in percentage of team face-offs taken (5th; 33.5%), shooting percentage (6th; 21.4%) and face-off winning percentage (10th; 57.2%). He logged 1,535:25 of time on ice (an average of 18:57 per game) while recording only four penalty minutes, the fewest among the 527 NHL skaters who made at least 55 appearances during the season.
The best players and coaches from the 2024-25 season will be celebrated in the 2025 NHL Awards, a one-hour special that will premiere tonight at 6 p.m. ET on TNT in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada, before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. The show will highlight all NHL Award winners this season, including Kopitar and others revealed in a series of special surprise video announcements across all League platforms.
2024-25 Lady Byng Trophy Voting
|
|
|
Points |
(1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th) |
|
1. |
Anze Kopitar, LAK |
856 |
(50-31-11-22-18) |
|
2. |
Brayden Point, TBL |
793 |
(27-43-28-21-19) |
|
3. |
Jack Eichel, VGK |
782 |
(34-26-28-36-12) |
|
4. |
Jaccob Slavin, CAR |
760 |
(33-36-22-17-17) |
|
5. |
Nick Suzuki, MTL |
694 |
(8-35-48-29-42) |
|
6. |
Cale Makar, COL |
221 |
(12-3-9-8-11) |
|
7. |
Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN |
195 |
(16-2-2-2-5) |
|
8. |
Mitch Marner, TOR |
149 |
(3-5-10-8-10) |
|
9. |
Colton Parayko, STL |
72 |
(1-2-4-6-10) |
|
10. |
Jake Sanderson, OTT |
71 |
(1-1-8-3-5) |
|
11. |
Sidney Crosby, PIT |
52 |
(3-0-2-4-0) |
|
12. |
Nick Jensen, OTT |
40 |
(0-0-5-4-3) |
|
13. |
Alex Ovechkin, WSH |
38 |
(2-1-0-3-2) |
|
14. |
Matt Duchene, DAL |
24 |
(0-0-2-3-5) |
|
15. |
Kyle Connor, WPG |
15 |
(0-1-1-1-0) |
|
16. |
Jesper Bratt, NJD |
12 |
(0-1-1-0-0) |
|
17. |
Alex Vlasic, CHI |
11 |
(0-0-1-1-3) |
|
18. |
Frederick Gaudreau, MIN |
11 |
(0-0-0-3-2) |
|
19. |
Kirill Marchenko, CBJ |
10 |
(1-0-0-0-0) |
|
20. |
Aleksander Barkov, FLA |
10 |
(0-0-2-0-0) |
|
21. |
Patrick Kane, DET |
8 |
(0-0-1-1-0) |
|
22. |
Dylan Holloway, STL |
8 |
(0-0-1-0-3) |
|
23. |
Gustav Forsling, FLA |
8 |
(0-0-0-2-2) |
|
t-24. |
Leon Draisaitl, EDM |
7 |
(0-1-0-0-0) |
|
|
Claude Giroux, OTT |
7 |
(0-1-0-0-0) |
|
|
Jack Hughes, NJD |
7 |
(0-1-0-0-0) |
|
|
Vladimir Tarasenko, DET |
7 |
(0-1-0-0-0) |
|
t-28. |
William Karlsson, VGK |
6 |
(0-0-1-0-1) |
|
|
Teuvo Teravainen, CHI |
6 |
(0-0-1-0-1) |
|
|
Devon Toews, COL |
6 |
(0-0-1-0-1) |
|
31. |
Jared Spurgeon, MIN |
6 |
(0-0-0-2-0) |
|
t-32. |
Tyler Toffoli, SJS |
5 |
(0-0-1-0-0) |
|
|
Zach Werenski, CBJ |
5 |
(0-0-1-0-0) |
|
t-34. |
Cole Caufield, MTL |
4 |
(0-0-0-1-1) |
|
|
Miro Heiskanen, DAL |
4 |
(0-0-0-1-1) |
|
|
Quinn Hughes, VAN |
4 |
(0-0-0-1-1) |
|
|
Auston Matthews, TOR |
4 |
(0-0-0-1-1) |
|
|
Jason Robertson, DAL |
4 |
(0-0-0-1-1) |
|
t-39. |
Leo Carlsson, ANA |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Evgenii Dadonov, DAL |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Thomas Harley, DAL |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Victor Hedman, TBL |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Bo Horvat, NYI |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Esa Lindell, DAL |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Steven Lorentz, TOR |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Connor McDavid, EDM |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Ryan McDonagh, TBL |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
|
Gabriel Vilardi, WPG |
3 |
(0-0-0-1-0) |
|
t-49. |
Matty Beniers, SEA |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Jonathan Drouin, COL |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Nico Hischier, NJD |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Simon Holmstrom, NYI |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Wyatt Johnston, DAL |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Adam Lowry, WPG |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Sean Monahan, CBJ |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Ryan O’Reilly, NSH |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Rickard Rakell, PIT |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Sam Reinhart, FLA |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Brandon Saad, VGK |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Yegor Sharangovich, CGY |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Chris Tanev, TOR |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
|
|
Logan Thompson, WSH |
1 |
(0-0-0-0-1) |
(10-7-5-3-1 points allocation)
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