Kings captain wins award for second time in his career
In the illustrious career of Anze Kopitar he has won plenty of trophies for a hall of fame career. The Kings captain accepted another award tonight to go into his trophy room.
Kopitar has received his second career Lady Byng Memorial Trophy at tonights NHL Awards in Nashville.
This is the fourth individual trophy Kopitar has received since his debut in 2007.
The Lady Byng Memorial trophy is awarded every year to the player that exhibits the most sportsmanship while also playing a high level of hockey. Past winners include: Kyle Connor, Nathan MacKinnon and William Karlsson.
Kopitar had a team high 72 points this season and led the team to its second most regular season wins ever with 47.
The captain also exhibited good sportsmanship by only taking two penalties and sitting in the box for four minutes which was a career low.
The last time Kopitar won the award in 2014-2015, he also recorded 74 points and only took 16 penalty minutes.
This is the fourth time that Kopitar has finished in the top four of Lady Byng voting.
Kopitar is the fourth King to receive the award. Marcel Dionne and Butch Goring won the trophy in back-to-back seasons in 1977 and 1978.
Wayne Gretzky also won the award three times in the 90s.
As long as Kopitar keeps on playing at a high level for the rest of career he will continue to be a candidate to win the Lady Byng once again.