For the second time in three years and the third time in his illustrious career, Kings captain Anže Kopitar has won the NHL’s Lady Byng Trophy.
It is awarded annually “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
Kopitar edged out finalists Jack Eichel of Vegas and Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point after the 37-year-old Slovenian took just two minor penalties all season. One was a matching minor against Utah HC in April and the other prevented a sterling scoring chance for the New Jersey Devils on New Year’s Day.
In addition to his discipline, Kopitar started his campaign with 39 points in 36 games and finished it with 67 in 81 and a +14 rating. He and Adrian Kempe were an imposing tandem in the first half of the season and reignited much of that spark down the stretch. Kopitar amassed 19 points in 21 games after the arrival of a new linemate, Andrei Kuzmenko, at the trade deadline.
This was Kopitar’s fourth Lady Byng nomination (2016, 2018, 2023 and 2025), with the Kings having lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of those four campaigns. That was the case again this season as they bowed to the Edmonton Oilers, in six games, for a fourth straight postseason.
Yet Kopitar carried over his excellence from the home stretch and his gentlemanly play, picking up no penalties and finishing one point behind Kempe for the team scoring leading with two goals and seven assists in six 2025 playoff appearances.
Kopitar is entering the final season of his contract and what he has alluded to multiple times as being potentially the final season of his career, which began in 2006 and includes the only two Stanley Cup triumphs in Kings history.
