Anze Kopitar was out playing a nice game of golf when he found out he was voted the nicest player in the NHL. Or at least that's how his daughter described the award.
The Los Angeles Kings center won the Lady Byng Trophy on Thursday, awarded annually for gentlemanly conduct.
Kopitar was in his home country of Slovenia with his wife Ines, kids Neza and Jakob, and parents Matjaz and Mateja for a family golf outing and had no idea what he was in store for.
"[The kids] are super excited," Ines said before Kopitar was surprised with the trophy. "Especially yesterday when you guys (with the trophy) came over yesterday. This morning, I didn't have to say anything twice. I was like 'Get dressed," they were dressed, I was like 'What is going on?'"
After Kopitar and his dad finished the front nine, his kids presented him with pictures they drew of the Lady Byng Trophy.
"You won the award for the nicest NHL player," said Neza, whose picture read, "Nicest Dad in the NHL." "How does it feel?"
Kopitar had 67 points (21 goals, 46 assists) in 81 regular-season games and nine points (two goals, seven assists) in six playoff games this season. The 37-year-old center took two minor penalties, the second time in the past three seasons he's done that. Often playing against his opponent's best players, Kopitar won 879 face-offs (fourth in the NHL) and his 57.2 face-off winning percentage was 10th among players with at least 500 face-offs taken.
"Two [penalties] this year, I think. But well earned," Kopitar said. "I thought it was going to just be a friendly 10 holes of golf with family golf and then a little bit of lunch, so this was a very pleasant surprise when the kids brought it out on the ninth green."
Kopitar also won the Lady Byng in 2015-16 and 2022-23, the 10th player to win it at least three times.
"To me, it just means being so-called a gentleman," Kopitar said. "Hockey is a physical sport but within those parameters, I think there's obviously room, I guess a gentleman, a good guy, having respect toward your peers, toward the officials. Just carry yourself in a way to where kids look at you, young kids look at you, what you do on the ice. I guess this exemplifies that it's doable and I'm honored to have won it three times now and it means a great deal to me."
Kopitar has a packed trophy case. In addition to the Lady Byng trophies, he has won the Stanley Cup twice (2012, 2014), the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward twice (2015-16, 2017-18) and the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award (2021-22).
"I think it was happiness and he was surprised and he just loved it," Jakob said.
2024-25 Lady Byng Trophy Voting
Pts (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Anze Kopitar, LAK 856 (50-31-11-22-18)
2. Brayden Point, TBL 793 (27-43-28-21-19)
3. Jack Eichel, VGK 782 (34-26-28-36-12)
4. Jaccob Slavin, CAR 760 (33-36-22-17-17)
5. Nick Suzuki, MTL 694 (8-35-48-29-42)
6. Cale Makar, COL 221 (12-3-9-8-11)
7. Marc-Andre Fleury, MIN 195 (16-2-2-2-5)
8. Mitch Marner, TOR 149 (3-5-10-8-10)
9. Colton Parayko, STL 72 (1-2-4-6-10)
10. Jake Sanderson, OTT 71 (1-1-8-3-5)
11. Sidney Crosby, PIT 52 (3-0-2-4-0)
12. Nick Jensen, OTT 40 (0-0-5-4-3)
13. Alex Ovechkin, WSH 38 (2-1-0-3-2)
14. Matt Duchene, DAL 24 (0-0-2-3-5)
15. Kyle Connor, WPG 15 (0-1-1-1-0)
16. Jesper Bratt, NJD 12 (0-1-1-0-0)
17. Alex Vlasic, CHI 11 (0-0-1-1-3)
18. Frederick Gaudreau, MIN 11 (0-0-0-3-2)
19. Kirill Marchenko, CBJ 10 (1-0-0-0-0)
20. Aleksander Barkov, FLA 10 (0-0-2-0-0)
21. Patrick Kane, DET 8 (0-0-1-1-0)
22. Dylan Holloway, STL 8 (0-0-1-0-3)
23. Gustav Forsling, FLA 8 (0-0-0-2-2)
t-24. Leon Draisaitl, EDM 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
t-24. Claude Giroux, OTT 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
t-24. Jack Hughes, NJD 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
t-24. Vladimir Tarasenko, DET 7 (0-1-0-0-0)
t-28. William Karlsson, VGK 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
t-28. Teuvo Teravainen, CHI 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
t-28. Devon Toews, COL 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
31. Jared Spurgeon, MIN 6 (0-0-0-2-0)
t-32. Tyler Toffoli, SJS 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
t-32. Zach Werenski, CBJ 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
t-34. Cole Caufield, MTL 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-34. Miro Heiskanen, DAL 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-34. Quinn Hughes, VAN 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-34. Auston Matthews, TOR 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-34. Jason Robertson, DAL 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
t-39. Leo Carlsson, ANA 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Evgenii Dadonov, DAL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Thomas Harley, DAL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Victor Hedman, TBL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Bo Horvat, NYI 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Esa Lindell, DAL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Steven Lorentz, TOR 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Connor McDavid, EDM 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Ryan McDonagh, TBL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-39. Gabriel Vilardi, WPG 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
t-49. Matty Beniers, SEA 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Jonathan Drouin, COL 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Nico Hischier, NJD 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Simon Holmstrom, NYI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Wyatt Johnston, DAL 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Adam Lowry, WPG 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Sean Monahan, CBJ 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Ryan O’Reilly, NSH 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Rickard Rakell, PIT 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Sam Reinhart, FLA 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Brandon Saad, VGK 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Yegor Sharangovich, CGY 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Chris Tanev, TOR 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
t-49. Logan Thompson, WSH 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
(10-7-5-3-1 points allocation)
