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Brian Campbell of the Florida Panthers became the first defenseman in 58 years to win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that honors sportsmanship and “gentlemanly conduct” at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.
Florida's Dale Tallon lost out to St. Louis' Doug Armstrong for the league's General Manager of the Year Ward.
Campbell, who came to the Panthers in a draft-day trade last June, is only the third defenseman (Bill Quackenbush, Red Kelly) in the history of the award to win it.
This season, Campbell led the league in ice time and committed just three penalties. Campbell was also Florida's lone representative at the All-Star Game.
Campbell spent most of his acceptance speech thanking members of the Panthers organization including Tallon, owner Cliff Viner and coach Kevin Dineen.
Campbell received 31 first-place votes and was named on 89 of the 147 ballots that were cast by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Campbell's 582 points edged out Edmonton's Jordan Eberle (518) and Matt Moulson (517) of the Islanders.
Martin St. Louis, who won the award the past two seasons, finished fifth in the voting.
“To be the first defenseman to win this since 1954, well, I'll take pride in that,'' Campbell said.
Campbell becomes the Panthers first voted-on award winner in franchise history.
Pavel Bure won the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Award -- twice -- which automatically goes to the player with the most goals in a single season.
