Nick Jensen played 78 games for the Washington Capitals this past season and took just five minor penalties. His penalty record was the best among the team’s regular defensemen and only bested overall by Aliaksei Protas who took just four minor penalties in his 78 games.
Despite playing in the most games in a season he has since the 2018-19 campaign, Jensen’s 10 penalty minutes are the fewest he’s ever recorded in a single season. Due to that, he’s now getting some leaguewide recognition for his clean play.
Jensen placed 42nd in voting for the 2024 Lady Byng Trophy — awarded annually to the NHL player voted “to best combine sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct, and ability.” Jensen received one third-place vote, one fourth-place vote, and four fifth-place votes.
The PHWA, which RMNB is not a part of, votes for the annual award.
Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes is this year’s trophy winner, taking home the honor for the second time in his career. Slavin received 81 first-place votes after taking just four minor penalties throughout an 81-game season. The Colorado native ranked third on the Hurricanes in ice time per game (20:56) and first in short-handed time per game (2:38).
Elias Pettersson, Auston Matthews, Brayden Point, and Kyle Connor rounded out the top five.
Lady Byng Trophy voting
| Rank | Player | Points | (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th) |
| 1. | Jaccob Slavin, CAR | 1174 | (81-33-18-13-4) |
| 2. | Elias Pettersson, VAN | 508 | (13-31-21-14-14) |
| 3. | Auston Matthews, TOR | 506 | (24-18-20-9-13) |
| 4. | Brayden Point, TBL | 395 | (9-19-21-17-16) |
| 5. | Kyle Connor, WPG | 383 | (12-19-13-17-14) |
| 6. | Gustav Nyquist, NSH | 366 | (12-16-15-14-17) |
| 7. | Cale Makar, COL | 337 | (18-10-10-9-10) |
| 8. | Jesper Bratt, NJD | 116 | (0-2-11-12-11) |
| 9. | Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN | 96 | (4-6-2-0-4) |
| 10. | Esa Lindell, DAL | 88 | (1-4-5-8-1) |
| 11. | Anze Kopitar, LAK | 86 | (3-6-0-3-5) |
| 12. | Aleksander Barkov, FLA | 74 | (1-3-5-6-0) |
| 13. | Sean Monahan, WPG | 47 | (1-2-3-1-5) |
| 14. | Nico Hischier, NJD | 45 | (0-1-6-2-2) |
| 15. | Artemi Panarin, NYR | 40 | (2-0-3-1-2) |
| 16. | Brock Boeser, VAN | 38 | (0-0-2-7-7) |
| 17. | Shea Theodore, VGK | 35 | (0-1-4-2-2) |
| 18. | Teuvo Teravainen, CAR | 31 | (0-0-3-5-1) |
| 19. | Patrick Kane, DET | 29 | (2-0-1-1-1) |
| 20. | Seth Jarvis, CAR | 29 | (1-0-1-4-2) |
| 21. | Oliver Bjorkstrand, SEA | 28 | (0-0-1-6-5) |
| 22. | Nikita Kucherov, TBL | 27 | (1-1-2-0-0) |
| 23. | Joe Pavelski, DAL | 27 | (1-0-3-0-2) |
| 24. | Devon Toews, COL | 27 | (1-0-2-2-1) |
| 25. | Ryan O’Reilly, NSH | 25 | (0-1-1-2-7) |
| 26. | Yegor Sharangovich, CGY | 25 | (0-0-3-2-4) |
| 27. | Ryan Poehling, PHI | 24 | (0-2-1-1-2) |
| 28. | Alex Iafallo, WPG | 23 | (0-0-2-3-4) |
| 29. | Connor McDavid, EDM | 21 | (1-1-0-1-1) |
| 30. | Ilya Mikheyev, VAN | 21 | (0-2-0-2-1) |
| 31. | Mitch Marner, TOR | 21 | (0-1-1-2-3) |
| 32. | Jeff Carter, PIT | 20 | (2-0-0-0-0) |
| 33. | Noah Cates, PHI | 18 | (1-0-0-2-2) |
| 34. | Jonas Brodin, MIN | 18 | (0-1-2-0-1) |
| 35. | Jack Hughes, NJD | 18 | (0-1-1-1-3) |
| 36. | Matias Maccelli, ARI | 18 | (0-0-1-3-4) |
| t-37. | Jake Guentzel, CAR | 15 | (0-1-1-1-0) |
| William Nylander, TOR | 15 | (0-1-1-1-0) | |
| 39. | Nick Schmaltz, ARI | 15 | (0-1-0-2-2) |
| 40. | Vladimir Tarasenko, FLA | 13 | (1-0-0-1-0) |
| 41. | Sam Reinhart, FLA | 12 | (0-1-0-1-2) |
| 42. | Nick Jensen, WSH | 12 | (0-0-1-1-4) |
| 43. | Nick Leddy, STL | 11 | (0-0-1-2-0) |
| t-44. | Alex Pietrangelo, VGK | 10 | (1-0-0-0-0) |
| Jeremy Swayman, BOS | 10 | (1-0-0-0-0) | |
| 46. | Tommy Novak, NSH | 10 | (0-1-0-1-0) |
| 47. | Phillip Danault, LAK | 8 | (0-1-0-0-1) |
| 48. | Nick Suzuki, MTL | 8 | (0-0-1-1-0) |
| t-49. | Evan Bouchard, EDM | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) |
| Brock Faber, MIN | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| David Pastrnak, BOS | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| Jason Robertson, DAL | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| Tyler Toffoli, WPG | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| Linus Ullmark, BOS | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| Mika Zibanejad, NYR | 7 | (0-1-0-0-0) | |
| 56. | Samuel Girard, COL | 6 | (0-0-1-0-1) |
| t-57. | Sebastian Aho, CAR | 6 | (0-0-0-2-0) |
| Jonathan Drouin, COL | 6 | (0-0-0-2-0) | |
| t-59. | Connor Brown, EDM | 5 | (0-0-1-0-0) |
| Sidney Crosby, PIT | 5 | (0-0-1-0-0) | |
| Alexis Lafreniere, NYR | 5 | (0-0-1-0-0) | |
| Jon Merrill, MIN | 5 | (0-0-1-0-0) | |
| 63. | Steven Stamkos, TBL | 4 | (0-0-0-1-1) |
| t-64. | Brent Burns, CAR | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) |
| Ryan Carpenter, SJS | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) | |
| Cole Caufield, MTL | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) | |
| Charlie Coyle, BOS | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) | |
| Gustav Forsling, FLA | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) | |
| Zach Hyman, EDM | 3 | (0-0-0-1-0) | |
| 70. | Owen Tippett, PHI | 2 | (0-0-0-0-2) |
| t-71. | Thatcher Demko, VAN | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) |
| Kevin Fiala, LAK | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Matt Grzelcyk, BOS | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Thomas Harley, DAL | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Roope Hintz, DAL | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Kirill Kaprizov, MIN | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Ryan McLeod, EDM | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Morgan Rielly, TOR | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Jordan Staal, CAR | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) | |
| Zach Werenski, CBJ | 1 | (0-0-0-0-1) |
* (10-7-5-3-1 points allocation)
No Washington Capitals player has ever won the award since its inception after the 1924-25 NHL season. Adam Oates (2000-01) is the only Caps player to finish as a finalist.
The NHL’s full press release is below:
Slavin of Hurricanes wins Lady Byng Trophy for gentlemanly conduct
NEW YORK — Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin is the 2023-24 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 30-year-old Denver, Colo., native is a Lady Byng Trophy winner for the second time in his three years as a finalist, after finishing first in voting in 2020-21 and second in 2021-22. He matches New York City native Joe Mullen (2x) as the second U.S.-born player to win the trophy multiple times. He also joins Red Kelly as the second defenseman to win at least twice. Kelly won three of his four career Lady Byng Trophies as a blueliner.
Slavin was named on 149 of the 194 ballots as a top-five selection, with more than half of all ballots placing him in the top two (81 first-place votes, 33 second-place votes). His 1,174 voting points more than doubled his nearest competitor, with Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson (508) edging Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (506) in a tight race for second place.
Slavin logged the third-most minutes (1,695:29) and third-highest plus/minus (+21) for a Carolina defense that allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the League (216) en route to its third straight 110-point season and sixth consecutive playoff berth. Slavin, who finished third among Hurricanes blueliners with 6-31—37 (81 GP), surpassed Dave Babych (on Nov. 11 at Tampa Bay) and Justin Faulk (on March 10 vs. Calgary) to become the franchise’s all-time leader in assists and points, respectively, by a defenseman (49-223—272 in 665 GP). He did so while ranking second among NHL blueliners (and ninth in the entire League) with 71 takeaways and being assessed eight total penalty minutes – the fewest among the NHL’s 81 skaters who played at least 1,600 minutes in 2023-24.
The NHL is announcing its 2023-24 trophy winners during pregame programming ahead of Stanley Cup Playoff games on national rightsholders ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports and at the 2024 NHL Awards show at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on June 27. ESPN’s announcements are being made on its studio show The Point leading into its game coverage.
The NHL continues its series of trophy winner announcements on Monday, June 10, when the winner of the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award will be unveiled.
