The National Hockey League continued to announce 2021 NHL Award finalists on Sunday with the three candidates for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. The Selke Trophy is awarded annually to "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game,” as selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.
The finalists for the 2021 Selke Trophy are Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov, Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron and Vegas Golden Knights forward Mark Stone.
This is the first time Barkov has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, despite finishing in the top-10 of voting for the award three times.
The Panthers captain finished his 2020-21 season as a point per-game player for the second time in his career with 26 goals and 32 assists for 58 points in 50 games played. Barkov finished second on the team in scoring, while helping lead Florida defensively, contributing to the team's lowest team goals-against figure (2.70) since the 2015-16 season.
Barkov was a workhorse down the middle this season for the Panthers, averaging the ninth-highest average ice-time among forwards in the NHL at 20:56. He also ranked 10th in the league with 1,026 total faceoffs, while winning 54.9% of his faceoffs.
The 25-year-old native of Tampere, Finland is also a three-time finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy, winning the honor back 2019. With a win of the Selke Trophy in 2021, Barkove would become the fifth player in NHL history to win both the Selke and Lady Byng Trophy, joining Pavel Datsyuk, Ron Francis, Anze Kopitar and Ryan O’Reilly.
The Panthers went on to have a stellar 2020-21 season in South Florida, finishing the year with a 37-14-5 record and 79 points, good enough for a second place finish in the Central Division. However, the Panthers would suffer an early exit from the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This is the 10th-straight season Bergeron has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy, and he's looking to win his fifth-career honor as the best defensive forward in the NHL.
The 35-year-old center was, once again, one of the best two-way centers in the NHL this past season. Bergeron managed to score 23 goals and add 25 assists for 48 points, while also registering a plus-27 in 54 games for the Bruins. Meanwhile, Bergeron led the NHL with 714 faceoff wins this past season, and put up a career-best 62.3% win percentage in the faceoff circle.
With a win of the Selke Trophy in 2021, Bergeron would stand alone with the most Selke wins in NHL history. He's currently tied with former Montreal Canadiens forward and Hall of Famer, Bob Gainey, who won the Selke Trophy between 1978 and 1981.
Bergeron and the Bruins finished the 2020-21 regular season with a 33-16-7 record and 73 points, which was good for a third place finish in the East Division. So far through the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Boston managed to down the Washington Capitals in the first round in five games.
As of now, the Bruins are even through four games in their second round series with the New York Islanders. Game 5 of their series is set for Monday night back in Boston at 6:30 p.m. ET.
As for Stone, he's a finalist for the Selke Trophy for the second time in his career, finishing second in voting back in 2019.
For the second time in his career, Stone finished a season as more than a point per-game player with 21 goals and 40 assists for 61 points in 55 games played. He also recorded a career-best plus-26 rating, while averaging 19:04 of total ice-time this season.
Stone has quickly developed into one of the most reliable two-way forward in the NHL over the past few seasons. While leading the Golden Knights in average ice time amongst forwards, he was also a vital piece to the league's best penalty killing unit, as Vegas shined this year with an 86.8% penalty kill rate. Also, the Golden Knights captain led the entire league this year with 58 takeaways.
Stone now joins teammate Marc-Andre Fleury (Vezina Trophy) as a finalist for the 2021 NHL Awards.
In the fourth year of the team's existence, the Golden Knights went on to a second place finish in the Pacific Division, posting a 40-14-2 record and 82 points in 56 games. They finished the year tied with the Avalanche for first in the division, but it was the Regulation Wins tie-breaker that allowed Colorado to claim the division title and the Presidents' Trophy as the best team in the regular season.
So far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Golden Knights narrowly escaped the opening round against the Minnesota Wild, beating them in seven games. Currently, Vegas trails the Avalanche 2-1 in their series with Game 4 set to take place Sunday night on home ice at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The winner of the Selke Trophy will be announced as part of the 2021 NHL Awards starting Monday, June 14.
The next round of finalists for the 2021 NHL Awards will be announced on Monday, June 7, with the three finalists for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.
Other 2021 NHL Awards finalists:
- Vezina Trophy
- Ted Lindsay Award
- King Clancy Memorial Trophy
- Lady Byng Trophy