Auston Matthews finishes 3rd in Lady Byng voting, Marner, Nylander, Rielly also receive votes

Ahead of Game 5 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers, the 2024 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy winner was announced.

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player who exhibits the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability. The three finalists for this year’s trophy were Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks.

This marked the third time in Matthews’ career that he has been named a finalist for this trophy, the first time coming back in the 2019-20 season when he finished second in voting behind Nathan MacKinnon, and the previous time coming in the 2020-21 season when he finished third in voting behind Jared Spurgeon and Slavin, who took home the trophy for the first time in his career.

For the second time in his career, Carolina’s Jacob Slavin has taken home the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and becomes the second defenseman in NHL history to win the trophy multiple times, joining Red Kelly, who won the trophy three times (1951, 1953, and 1954) with the Detroit Red Wings.

Matthews finished third in the voting, receiving 24 first-place votes, along with 18 second-place votes, 20 third-place votes, nine fourth-place votes, and 13 fifth-place votes, for a total of 506 points, two shy of the second-place Elias Pettersson, who received only 13 first-place votes.

However, Matthews isn’t the only Maple Leaf who received votes. Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly received at least one vote.

Marner, who finished fourth in Lady Byng voting in 2022, received one second-place vote, one third-place vote, two fourth-place votes, and three fifth-place votes, good enough for 31st.

Nylander, who has received Lady Byng votes three times since 2018, tied for 37th in votes with Carolina’s Jake Guentzel, who both received one second-place vote, one third-place vote, and one fourth-place vote.

Lastly, Rielly, who has only gotten Lady Byng votes twice before this year, most recently finishing fourth in 2019, received just one fifth-place vote, tied for 71st alongside Thatcher Demko, Kevin Fiala, Matt Grzelcyk, Thomas Harley, Roope Hintz, Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan McLeod, Jordan Staal, and Zach Werenski.