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 is the 10th player in NHL history to take home the trophy three or more times and the second King after three of Wayne Gretzky’s five Lady Byng honors came in black and silver.
Kopitar edged out finalists Jack Eichel of Vegas and Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point with 74 voting points separating the three top candidates.
“With any award, there’s a lot of guys that are worthy of this, especially all the finalists,” Kopitar said via phone from his offseason home in Slovenia. “To be able to win this is an honor to me, and I take pride in it for sure. You work throughout your career to cut penalties minutes down and lead by example, in every aspect of the game.”
Kopitar had finished the front nine holes of the Royal Bled golf course when he was surprised by his wife Ines, daughter Neža and son Jakob, with a replica of the trophy and some artwork from his kids. Neža congratulated him for being “the nicest player in the NHL.”
“My wife, my kids, the Kings organization and the NHL, they kept it a tight-lipped secret, so I did not have a sniff of it,” Kopitar said. “It was a very pleasant surprise, and I guess being the nicest player in the NHL, I mean, it’s not all that bad to hear that from your daughter, so I’ll take it.”
The 37-year-old Kings captain had just two infractions 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. Kopitar was one of just two players in 2024-25 to top 65 points with fewer than 10 PIM (the other was Montreal captain Nick Suzuki).
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 couldn’t have happened without my teammates, and it never does,” Kopitar said. “I know it’s an individual award, but you just can’t do it without your teammates, without the support of your coaches, your front office and the whole organization.”
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.