Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, Carolina Hurricanes blue-liner Jaccob Slavin, and Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon are the finalists for the 2021 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, the league announced Saturday.
The award is given to the player who exhibits the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of play.
Matthews is up for the award for the second consecutive season. He served only 10 minutes of penalties across 52 games despite ranking fifth among all NHL forwards with 21:33 of ice time per game.
The Toronto superstar already won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's top goal-scorer and is also nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award as the most outstanding player voted by his peers.
Slavin averaged over 22 minutes per game this season in 52 contests and took only one minor penalty, which was for delay of game.
Spurgeon had 25 points in 54 games for the Wild this season, playing top-pairing minutes and taking only three minors. Slavin is the only player in the NHL to average more ice time than Spurgeon and commit fewer penalties.
Only three defensemen have ever won the Lady Byng, most recently in 2011 when Brian Campbell took home the award. Before then, the last instance was Red Kelly in 1953-54.
