Jack Eichel was one of three players named as a finalist for the 2025 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, joining Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar and Tampa Bay Lightning pivot Brayden Point, the NHL announced Friday.
The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to “the player adjudged to have exhibted the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability,” accoring to the NHL. It is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association at the conclusion of the regular season.
This is Eichel’s first nomination. Kopitar has won the award twice, and Point has been nominated once before.
Eichel, 28, is coming off a spectacular regular season in which he scored 28 goals and 94 points in 77 games with the Golden Knights. He set career highs in assists (66), points (94), plus/minus (plus-32) and power-play points (34) while also setting a record for most points in a single season in franchise history,. He led the team in scoring while helping the Golden Knights clinch their fourth division title in eight years. Eichel took just four minor penalties all season.
Kopitar recorded 67 points (21 goals, 46 assists) in 81 games in his 19th season with Los Angeles. The 37-year-old registered just four penalty minutes, the same number he recorded in 2022-23 when he won the award for the second time. He also took home the Lady Byng in 2016 and could become just the third player in NHL history — joining Pavel Datsyuk (four) and Martin St. Louis (three) — to win the award three times.
Point, 29, recorded 42 goals and 82 points in 77 games with the Lightning this season and took just one major and one minor for seven penalty minutes all year. He also was nominated in 2022-23 after scoring 95 points and registering seven penalty minutes.
Other previous winners include Jaccob Slavin (2023-24, 2020-21), Kyle Connor (2021-22) and Nathan MacKinnon (2019-20).
Eichel is the second player in Golden Knights history to be nominated for the award. He joins William Karlsson, who won the award in 2017-18 following his 43-goal, 78-point performance in the Golden Knights’ inaugural campaign. Karlsson registered 12 penalty minutes that season.