Canucks forward Elias Pettersson finishes second in Lady Byng voting

Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson finished in second place in voting for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, the National Hockey League announced Thursday evening.

The Lady Byng is awarded annually to the NHL player “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” The award is voted upon by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Jaccob Slavin was named the 2024 recipient of the Lady Byng, marking the second time in his career that he has won the award. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews was also named a finalist.

Pettersson received 13 first-place votes for the award, compared to 81 for Slavin and 24 for Matthews. Here is the full breakdown of this year’s Lady Byng voting, as released by the league on Thursday and shared to social media by St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Matthew DeFranks.

Pettersson, 25, recorded just 12 penalty minutes while racking up 34 goals and 89 points in 82 games with the Canucks during the 2023-24 regular season. The Sundsvall, Sweden product added one goal and six points to go along with just two penalty minutes in 13 playoff contests.

Three other Canucks players received votes for the Lady Byng this year. High-scoring winger Brock Boeser finished 16th in balloting, receiving two third-place votes and seven for both fourth and fifth place. Boeser, 27, scored 40 goals in the regular season while accumulating just 14 penalty minutes.

Fellow winger Ilya Mikheyev finished 30th in voting, one spot behind Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. Mikheyev, 29, took just two minor penalties all season long while collecting 11 goals and 31 points in 78 games.

Finally, Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko finished in a 10-way tie for 71st with exactly one fifth-place vote. Demko, 28, was one of only three goaltenders to receive a vote for the Lady Byng, with the other two being Boston Bruins tandem partners Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark; he went 35-14-2 with a .918 save percentage and, yes, zero penalty minutes in 51 games with the Canucks this season.

No Canucks player has ever won the Lady Byng since the franchise entered the league in 1970. Pettersson is the first and only player in Canucks history to be named a finalist for the award.