NEW YORK — Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov has gained the Selke Trophy because the NHL’s greatest defensive ahead, the league introduced Saturday night time.
Barkov, 28, is a two-time Selke winner after additionally ending first in voting for the award in 2021. He was an enormous a part of the Panthers permitting the fewest targets this season and gained 57.3% of his faceoffs, rating ninth amongst gamers with a minimum of 50 video games and 500 makes an attempt.
The middle from Finland obtained 156 of 194 first-place votes from members of the Skilled Hockey Writers Affiliation and was listed on all however two ballots.
Teammate and ahead Matthew Tkachuk, talking after Friday night time’s series-clinching win over the Boston Bruins referred to as Barkov “one of the best participant on this planet proper now,” including that “I do not actually even have the phrases for what he is doing for our crew proper now.”
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Barkov has led Florida to a second consecutive journey to the Jap Convention remaining. After serving to the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Ultimate, the place they misplaced to the Vegas Golden Knights final summer season, he’ll lead his crew into the Jap Convention Finals on Wednesday, vs. the New York Rangers.
“We went via it final 12 months, clearly, and that is helped quite a bit,” Barkov advised SportsNet Friday night time after eliminating the Bruins. “However this 12 months is a brand new 12 months. Now we have new gamers, we’re simply creating one thing new right here, one thing actually thrilling. We’re actually excited for this chance once more, and we will not wait to get going.”
Carolina Hurricanes veteran Jordan Staal completed second in voting, and Toronto Maple Leafs All-Star Auston Matthews completed third.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
