Aside from the bigger, more obvious days on the hockey calendar — Trade Deadline, Schedule Release Day, etc. — today marks one of the favorite days every season for our entire Mayor’s Manor staff of writers and photographers.
Today is one of my FAVORITE days on the hockey calendar – @DennisTFP & I get to argue about the 2022-23 @LAKings team awards!
We're asked to cast votes for:
— Team MVP
— Best Newcomer
— Most Outstanding Dman
— Best Defensive Player (any roster player)Last year's winners 👇 https://t.co/jFLoJrEM8f
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) April 7, 2023
This week’s Kings Of The Podcast episode featured a spirited debate in advance of the LA Kings 2022-23 award winners being announced, with detailed opinions on each of the top four awards.
Below are the official winners of the LA Kings 2022-23 Season Awards, along with the votes cast by MM editor John Hoven:
Most Valuable Player – “Bill Libby Memorial Award”:
As Voted by the Media
Winner: Anze Kopitar
Hoven’s vote: Kopitar
Top contenders: Kopitar, Fiala, Copley
Last year’s winner: Phil Danault
Kopitar has now won the award for a club-record ninth time, surpassing Marcel Dionne (eight times). He is currently tied for the team lead in scoring with 72 points (27G, 45A) and ranks second in assists and goals while also leading all Kings forwards in time-on-ice per game (20:17), shorthanded time-on-ice per game (1:53) and faceoff winning percentage (55.9%, min. 100 face-offs).
Best Newcomer – “Mark Bavis Memorial Award”:
As Voted by the Media
Winner: Kevin Fiala
Hoven’s vote: Fiala
Top contenders: Fiala, Copley, Gavrikov
Last year’s winner: Phil Danault
Earlier this season. Fiala was named to his first-ever NHL All-Star Game and enjoyed a point-per-game pace season for the second-consecutive year, registering 72 points (23G, 49A) in 69 games. He became the first Kings skater since 1999-00 to record 60 points in 60 games or less.
Outstanding Defenseman:
As Voted by the Media
Winner: Drew Doughty
Hoven’s vote: Doughty
Top contenders: Doughty, Anderson, Roy
Last year’s winner: Matt Roy
For the 12th time of his career, Drew Doughty has been voted Outstanding Defenseman. He is poised to lead all Kings blueliners in scoring for the third consecutive year and 12th time overall, posting 50 points (9G, 41A) through 80 games while ranking second in the NHL in time-on-ice per game (26:16). Among all Kings defenseman, Doughty leads the team in shorthanded goals, assists, time-on-ice per game (2:21) and takeaways (22) while sitting third in hits (113) and tied for fourth in blocked shots (104).
Defensive Player:
As Voted by the Media
Winner: Anze Kopitar
Hoven’s vote: Mikey Anderson
Top contenders: Kopitar, Doughty, Anderson
Last year’s winner: Trevor Moore
Kopitar was voted the team’s Best Defensive Player for the sixth time in his career, surpassing Mattias Norstrom (five times) for the most in team history. In addition to the previously mentioned statistical categories he leads, Kopitar also leads club forwards in on-ice even strength goal differential (+23), blocked shots (86), takeaways (45), total face-offs (1,587), shorthanded face-offs (182) and defensive zone face-offs (562) while only taking two penalties all season. He is the only player in the NHL this season to average over 20 minutes time-on-ice per night and score 70+ points while only registering four penalty minutes.
“Ace Bailey Memorial Award” as Most Inspirational:
As Voted by the Players
Winner: Pheonix Copley
Last year’s winner: Phil Danault
Unsung Hero:
As Voted by the Players
Winner: Matt Roy
Last year’s winner: Blake Lizotte
Most Popular Player:
As Voted on by the LA Kings Booster Club
Winner: Adrian Kempe
Last year’s winner: Adrian Kempe
Jim Fox Community Service:
As Voted on by the Kings Care Foundation
Winner: Kevin Fiala
Daryl Evans Youth Hockey Service:
As Voted on by the LA Kings Hockey Development Department
Winner: Quinton Byfield
In addition:
Pheonix Copley was selected as the club’s Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee as selected by the Los Angeles chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PWHA).
Mikey Anderson has been nominated by the Kings for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to his community.
Be sure to listen to all the awards debate on the podcast episode linked below.
RELATED CONTENT:
Kings Of The Podcast: Ep. 153 with Quinton Byfield, Plus Team Awards
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