Last Word On Sports is doing our annual awards nominations and predictions. We’ll be giving you our nominations and predictions for the Selke Trophy, Vezina Trophy, Calder Trophy, Norris Trophy, Jack Adams Trophy, and the Hart Trophy.
The Selke Trophy is given yearly to the NHL forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The current holder of the Selke trophy is Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron. To find the three best defensive forwards in the NHL this season, I narrowed the list down a bit. Only forwards with at least 500 minutes at even strength and an even strength CorsiFor% of 50% or more were eligible. All ranks are among the forwards who fit those qualifications. 88 forwards qualified. I’ll be using advanced stats in this article, namely CorsiFor percentage, CorsiAgainst60 and TOIC%. If you get confused, here’s a glossary.
First, some honorable mentions for the Selke Trophy because it was very difficult to narrow the race down to three players.
- Eric Fehr of the Washington Capitals has been great defensively. He’s been expected to carry the third line, which has been so good for the Caps. Fehr and Trotz are a match made in heaven. Despite not being a natural center, Fehr has developed into an extremely efficient center over the past two seasons.
- Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks has had an outstanding season as always. Just not as outstanding as my three Selke Trophy finalists.
- Marcel Goc deserves to be mentioned because you never hear his name, but he does such a great job defensively.
- Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens doesn’t get enough love, but he’s been very strong defensively this season.
- David Backes has been relied on by the Blues to handle tough zone starts and play with non-ideal linemates. He’s responded by having a very quiet, but very efficient season defensively.
Let’s take a look at the three strongest candidates for the Selke Trophy.
- Anze Kopitar. The Kings have had a very rough season. That should not at all diminish what Kopitar has done. He’s very deserving to be a Selke Trophy finalist. He has the third highest CorsiFor% (58.72%) of qualified forwards. He has a high offensive zone start percentage, but that’s likely due to the fact that the Kings aren’t good at scoring so they need Kopitar out there in order to have a good shot at scoring. He has the fifth lowest Corsis Against per 60 minutes (CA60) of all qualified forwards (44.39). He has been a stalwart on the King’s penalty kill and, as always, he’s been a master of winning faceoffs. Kopitar has had an outstanding season defensively and could win the Selke Trophy.
- Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk has become a fixture as a Selke Trophy finalist. Once again, he’s having an excellent season defensively. He has the lowest even strength CA60 (41.69) of all qualified forwards. Part of that is due to his zone start percentage of 59.07%, but I think Datsyuk has earned the benefit of the doubt. As usual, he has a nice faceoff win percentage of 52.64%. He also has the seventh highest TOIC% (17.89), which measures the level of your competition (or who you are on the ice against), of all qualified forwards. His CorsiFor% of 59.73% is the second highest among qualified forwards. Basically, when he’s on the ice at even strength, roughly three out of every five shot attempts taken are by Detroit. That’s pretty darn good. Most of the time, when someone’s been nominated for an award like the Selke Trophy so many times, their reputation tends to be what gets them in. That’s not the case with Datsyuk, as he’s truly deserving as a Selke Trophy finalist.
- Patrice Bergeron. I’ll be blunt: Bergeron is so damn good, it’s unfair. Like Datsyuk, Bergeron has been a Selke Trophy finalist so many times, one would expect that his reputation would get him in. That might be the case, but Bergeron is still living up to that reputation of being the best two-way forward in hockey. Among qualified forwards, Bergeron has the fifth highest TOIC% (17.94), 12th lowest CA60 (46.35), 5th lowest zone start percentage (43.27%) and, to the surprise of nobody, the highest face off win percentage (59.76%). It’s nuts that this could be considered an off year for Bergeron defensively, yet he’s still a very strong Selke Trophy finalist.
My ballot:
- Bergeron
- Kopitar
- Datsyuk
