Article content continued

Kelly won the Lady Byng again in 1961, but he was playing centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs by then, and scored 70 points in 64 games.

The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on the award, and I’m lucky enough to be one of the voters. Ever since I’ve become a voter, I’ve researched the awards and, while there is no perfect process, I’m perplexed how only one defender has won the award since the mid-1950s.

Getty Images

Defencemen are required to slow down or inhibit the actions of the attacking forwards. I’d argue it requires more control to play defence in a gentlemanly way and within the rules than it does to play forward.

It seems the Lady Byng has become a trophy awarded to a forward who had a really good offensive season, wasn’t a ruffian and didn’t take too many penalties.

But if a defender does the same, he doesn’t garner the same recognition. Even Nick Lidstrom, who was the epitome of sportsmanship and won seven Norris trophies from 2001-11, never won the Lady Byng, finishing second in voting for the award four times.

It doesn’t tarnish his Hockey Hall of Fame career, but it seems odd to me how a player as dominant as Lidstrom, who played as much as he did every season, never won.

Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

Not only are defencemen in a position to defend and attack the puck carrier more often, which means a higher chance of taking a penalty, they are also on the ice more often than top-end forwards.

This season, Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames, Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues and Mikael Granlund of the Minnesota Wild have been named the three finalists.