Lady Byng Memorial Trophy The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy , formerly known as the Lady Byng Trophy , is presented each year to the National Hockey League " player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability " . The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy has been awarded 86 times to 51 different players since it was first awarded in 1925 . The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association , and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10 - 7 - 5 - 3 - 1 points system . Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the Stanley Cup Playoffs . History . The trophy is named in honour of Marie Evelyn Moreton ( Lady Byng ) , wife of Viscount Byng of Vimy , a Vimy Ridge war hero who was Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926 . Lady Byng , who was an avid hockey fan , decided to donate the trophy to the NHL in 1925 . She decided the trophy ' s first winner would be Frank Nighbor of the Ottawa Senators . Late in the season , Lady Byng invited Nighbor to Rideau Hall , showed him the trophy , and asked him if the NHL would accept it as an award for its most gentlemanly player . When Nighbor said he thought it would , Lady Byng , much to Nighbor ' s surprise , awarded him the trophy . After Frank Boucher of the New York Rangers won the award seven times within eight years , Lady Byng was so impressed that she gave him the original trophy to keep . Lady Byng then donated a second trophy in 1935 – 36 . When Lady Byng died in 1949 the NHL presented another trophy and changed the official name to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy . In 1962 , the original trophy was destroyed in a fire at Boucher ' s home . Besides Boucher , a number of players have won the award multiple times , including Wayne Gretzky who won it five times , Red Kelly and Pavel Datsyuk with four wins , and Bobby Bauer , Alex Delvecchio , Mike Bossy and Ron Francis with three each . Because of Boucher ' s seven wins , the New York Rangers join Detroit as the only two clubs who have won the award fourteen times , followed by Toronto with nine wins , Chicago and Boston tied with eight , and Los Angeles with five . Five players have won both the Lady Byng Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in the same season : Buddy O ' Connor ( 1947 – 48 ) , Bobby Hull ( 1964 – 65 ) , Stan Mikita ( 1966 – 67 and 1967 – 68 ) , Wayne Gretzky ( 1979 – 80 ) and Joe Sakic ( 2000 – 01 ) . Mikita is also the only player to win the Hart , Art Ross , and Lady Byng trophies in the same season , doing so consecutively in the 1966 – 67 and 1967 – 68 seasons . Gretzky , Bobby Hull , and Martin St . Louis are the other players who have won these three awards in their career , though not in the same season , while Bobby and Brett Hull are the only father - son combination to win the Hart and Lady Byng trophies . Bill Quackenbush and Red Kelly are the only defensemen to have won the Lady Byng Trophy , with Kelly being the only one to win it multiple ( 3 as a defenseman , 4 overall ) times . No defenseman has won in over fifty years ; the closest this came to happening was in 2001 when Nicklas Lidström narrowly lost to Joe Sakic . No goaltender has ever won the award .