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SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The National Hockey League (NHL) today announced Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon is a finalist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is presented annually to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.
Spurgeon, 32 (11/29/89), tallied 40 points (10-30=40), a plus-32 rating, 14 power-play assists (PPA), two game-winning goals (GWG), 10 penalty minutes (PIM), 116 shots and 83 blocked shots in 65 games this season. He led Wild defensemen in scoring and goals and ranked second on the team in plus/minus rating, third in PPA and T-5th in assists. The 5-foot-9, 166-pound native of Edmonton, Alberta, set a career-high seven-game assist and point streak (1-7=8) from March 29-April 10. The streak matched the franchise record for longest assist streak by a Wild defenseman in team history (Suter, 7g, 12/11-12/23/13) and the longest point streak by a Wild defenseman for the fourth time. The blueliner became the all-time leader in games played by a Wild defenseman on March 3 at PHI, skating in his 744th career game to surpass Nick Schultz’s 743 games (2001-12). Spurgeon collected three assists and nine shots in six Stanley Cup Playoff games this postseason to rank T-2nd on the team in assists. He skated in his 60th career playoff game on May 10 (Game 5) vs. STL to surpass Mikko Koivu (59) for most playoff contests in Wild history.
Spurgeon owns 345 points (99-246=345), a plus-80 rating, 32 PPG, 84 PPA, 17 GWG, 1,266 shots and 1,282 blocked shots in 772 career games with Minnesota (2010-22). He is the franchise leader in games played, goals, power-play goals (PPG), GWG, shots on goal and blocked shots by a defenseman and ranks second in assists, PPA, points, power-play points (PPP) and hits (659). He ranks first all-time in plus/minus rating, second in games played, third in assists, fourth in shots on goal, T-4th in overtime goals (4) and fifth in PPA. He owns the fewest penalty minutes (130) among NHL defensemen that have played in at least 600 games since entering the NHL in 2010-11. The right-shot defenseman was named the second full-time captain in team history on Jan. 3, 2021. Spurgeon was named a finalist for the 2021 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and is the second player in team history to be named a Lady Byng Memorial Trophy Finalist (Mikael Granlund, 2017).
Jaccob Slavin (Carolina) and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg) are the other finalists for the 2021-22 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy after the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winners of the 2022 NHL Awards will be revealed during the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final, with exact dates, format and times to be announced.
Lady Byng, wife of Canada's Governor General at the time, presented the Lady Byng Trophy during the 1924-25 season. After Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won the award seven times in eight seasons, he was given the trophy to keep and Lady Byng donated another trophy in 1936. After Lady Byng’s death in 1949, the NHL presented a new trophy, changing the name to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.