Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad finishes 12th in voting for Lady Byng Trophy
A resurgent season helped Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers receive down-ballot votes for the Lady Byng Trophy in 2025-26.
The 33-year-old center picked up 96 points to finish 12th in the voting conducted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. That included one first-place vote, another for second place, nine for third, eight fourth-place votes, and 10 for fifth place.
Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield won the award, which is presented annually to “the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”
Caufield established career highs with 51 goals and 88 points this season, finishing two goals behind Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche for the League lead. Caufield also totaled just 14 penalty minutes, playing 81 games.
He had 45 first-lace votes, seven more than runner-up Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings. Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson finished third in the voting.
Zibanejad led the Rangers with 34 goals, 78 points, and 16 power-play goals. Like Caufield, Zibanejad had only 14 PIM (seven minor penalties) in 81 games. He bounced back from a dismal 2024-25 campaign, when he slumped to 20 goals and 62 points.
Though he didn’t win the Lady Byng, Zibanejad did secure a bunch of hardware this season from the Rangers. Zibanejad won the coveted Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award for the third time, and first since 2019-20. Zibanejad also was voted Team MVP and received the Players’ Player Award this season.
Additionally, Zibanejad passed Adam Graves for fourth place on the Rangers all-time goal-scoring list, and currently has 284 wearing the Blueshirt. He also became the franchise’s all-time leader in power-play goals this season with 124, and surpassed a pair of NHL milestones with 800 points and 1,000 games.
Rangers legend Frank Boucher won the Lady Byng Award seven times during the early days of the NHL. In the modern era, two Rangers won the award — Wayne Gretzky in 1998-99 and Jean Ratelle in 1971-72.
