Florida Panthers captain and centre Aleksander Barkov of Tampere, Finland won the 2025 Frank J. Selke Trophy on Monday. The award is presented annually to the top defensive forward of the National Hockey League regular season.
Barkov has now won the award three times. He previously won the award in 2021 and 2024.
Was Barkov’s Selke Trophy this year deserving?
From a statistical perspective, it is actually a little surprising that Barkov won the Selke Trophy this season. That is because he was only a +1 in 2024-25, and had 18 more giveaways (52) than takeaways (34). When Barkov won the Selke Trophy in 2023-24, he was a +33 and had 30 more takeaways (61) than giveaways (31).
When it comes to the Selke Trophy for some inexplicable reason, the Professional Hockey Writers Association tend to be a little lazy in their voting. They tend to choose players who have won the award in previous seasons rather than analyzing the statistics in the current season.
In 2021-22, no player was more deserving of the Selke Trophy than Elias Lindholm of Boden, Sweden, who was a remarkable +61. Yet, he lost the award to Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron of L’Ancienne, Quebec, who had won the award on four previous occasions.
My vote would have gone to Colorado Avalanche centre Brock Nelson of Warroad, Minnesota who was a +8 and only had 10 more giveaways (50) than takeaways (40). What do I know as Nelson was not even considered?
Barkov’s 2024-25 NHL Statistics
Barkov had 20 goals and 50 assists for 71 points in 67 games. He had 16 penalty minutes, 28 power-play points, four shorthanded points, four game-winning goals, 149 shots on goal, 580 faceoff wins, a faceoff winning percentage (an important statistic for defensive forwards) of 56.5%, 54 blocked shots, and 87 hits.
Tough challenge in the Stanley Cup Finals
Barkov’s defensive ability will be put to the test in the coming weeks. That is because the Panthers will face the Edmonton Oilers, who have the two most offensively skilled players in the NHL in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
