Overview
- The NHL, which announced the finalists Thursday, named Montreal’s Cole Caufield, Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar and Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson for the 2025-26 award for skill and sportsmanship.
- Caufield scored 51 goals and 88 points in 81 games with only 14 penalty minutes, becoming Montreal’s first 50-goal scorer in 36 years.
- Sanderson posted 14 goals and 54 points in 67 games with eight penalty minutes while leading Ottawa in ice time, a rare low-penalty profile for a top-pair defenseman.
- Kopitar recorded 38 points and 10 penalty minutes in 67 games during his 20th and final NHL season after the Kings’ first-round exit and is a three-time past winner.
- Ballots were cast at the end of the regular season and the top three vote-getters became finalists, with Kopitar seeking a fourth career Byng in a club that includes Frank Boucher, Wayne Gretzky, Pavel Datsyuk and Red Kelly, while defensemen have seldom won.