The NHL has announced that Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin is the 2024 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner as the “Player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” The other two finalists for the award were Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews.
Slavin became only the fourth NHL defenseman in history to win the award back in 2021 and is just the second NHL defenseman to win the honor more than once. Red Kelly is the only defenseman other than Slavin to win the award more than once and was a four-time award Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner.
The 30-year-old Slavin had another solid regular season averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time while dressing in 81 games for Carolina. Offensively, he was strong once again, tallying six goals and 31 assists while seeing minimal power play time. Slavin spent less than 25 minutes on Carolina’s man advantage this season and recorded 34 of his 37 points at even strength. The Denver, Colorado native remained a key cog in the Hurricanes’ penalty kill that was tops in the NHL with an 86.4% success rate. Slavin averaged 2:38 on the penalty kill per game and finished in the top 10 in takeaways.
Slavin is one of just two Hurricanes players ever to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and the only one to be nominated for the award on more than one occasion. He is one year away from unrestricted free agency and will be eligible for a contract extension on July 1st.
Most underrated player in the league.
Total unicorn. In terms of being ahead of the game, thinking in advance and decision making he is right there with the most creative forwards and biggest stars of the game. Just that he uses his hockey IQ for a totally different thing.
Can’t think of any defensive D with that little PIM while still being among the top names in the league.
Auston 0 for 2 in awards but first in playoffs eliminations
Watching your obsession play out in real time is kinda fun! Thank you.
I don’t get why Matthews was a finalist….I thought penalty minutes against was a large criteria….Slavin had 8 all season, Petersson had 12 and Matthews has 20…why did players like K Connor, A Iffalo and G Nyquist who all had 8mins not get a vote?
It is not an award given to the player with the fewest penalty minutes.
So how do they decide?
Do a minute of homework on the award. Penalty minutes, or lack thereof, are one piece of the voting puzzle, not the entire puzzle. It’s also a subjective award, not fully statistically driven.