The Puck Stops Here
Selke Trophy Leader
by PuckStopsHere on 02/01/12 at 01:13 PM ET
Comments (8)
I last picked Frans Nielsen of the New York Islanders as my Selke Trophy leader in mid-December. It became clear to me that another player had moved into the lead just before the All Star break, but I hesitated to announce it because he was out with a wrist injury and should he remain out of the lineup for a prolonged period of time he would soon be surpassed. Last night Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks returned to action. He only missed one game because of the All Star break.
Toews is a wonderful two-way player who can score. His 51 points place him tenth in the NHL scoring race. He can also play outstanding defence. Toews plays against tough competition and shuts them down. He plays in tough defensive situations and he plays almost two minutes of penalty kill time per game.
He is the type of player that voters usually consider for this award. This is true because of his offence, his reputation and the fact he plays on a high profile team. Though these factors shouldn’t affect a Selke vote they usually do. It doesn’t reduce Toews defensive play that these factors, that should be unrelated to picking a Selke winner, line up in his favor. I believe he should be the current leader with or without them.
In fact, I picked Toews as last year’s Selke winner. The voters selected Ryan Kesler, who had a better reputation following the 2010 Olympics and was on a team that won the Presidents Trophy. I think Toews would have been a better choice, but external factors were not as strongly in his favor.
This season might be the year for Jonathan Toews to win the Selke Trophy. He certainly is a strong candidate. I would give it to him at this point of the season.
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Tags: Chicago+Blackhawks, Frans+Nielsen, Jonathan+Toews,
Comments
I wonder how much better than Toews Marian Hossa would have to be in order to get Selke consideration.
Like Toews, Hossa plays almost two minutes of PK per game and plays against tough competition. He also has more defensive zone starts and a better plus/minus.
It would be very weird to see a winger win it though.
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 02/01/12 at 03:12 PM ET
Toews has a chance and I wouldn’t have a problem if the vote were taken today and Toews won, but there’s plenty of guys that have a chance right now. Bergeron, Kesler, Datsyuk, and as J.J. mentioned even Hossa, whose stats are pretty similar to Toews.
There’s probably others, but as I don’t watch every NHL game and hate relying only on stats someone else will have to supply those names. This race looks like a toss-up right now.
Posted by Valek on 02/01/12 at 03:39 PM ET
It would be very weird to see a winger win it though.
Michel Goulet.
Posted by tuxedoTshirt from the Home of the 1937 World Champions on 02/01/12 at 06:26 PM ET
Did Goulet win the Selke in a year I wasn’t aware of?
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 02/01/12 at 06:35 PM ET
Oops. Anyone else ever confuse Dirk Graham and Michel Goulet? Those 1992 playoffs are still playing in my head. Anyway, I missed the obvious, Jere Lehtinen.
Posted by tuxedoTshirt from the Home of the 1937 World Champions on 02/01/12 at 07:55 PM ET
Right, that’s 9 Selkes for wingers in the history of the trophy and 24 for centers. A winger hasn’t won it since Lehtinen did in 2003, which gives wingers one win in the last ten years.
Hossa wouldn’t win it over Toews based on “similar” numbers because Toews takes faceoffs (and is good at them). He wouldn’t win it over Toews because a center’s job is to be more defensively responsible than his wingers. Also, Toews’ QoC is slightly better than Hossas.
It was a point of discussion though. How much BETTER would Hossa’s numbers have to be in order for a winger to win the Selke nowadays based on how the voting has worked?
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 02/01/12 at 08:30 PM ET
Hossa wouldn’t win it over Toews based on “similar” numbers because Toews takes faceoffs (and is good at them). He wouldn’t win it over Toews because a center’s job is to be more defensively responsible than his wingers. Also, Toews’ QoC is slightly better than Hossas.
Hossa does a lot of coasting at the blue line in defensive stations waiting to start an offensive rush in late game, playing from behind situations. This may be something he’s coached to do, though. I’m not judging!
We noticed an almost Ovechkinian level of defensive commitment during that monster third period Chicago had in detroit last month (the BerTWOzi game).
Posted by shanetx from Floydada, Texas on 02/01/12 at 11:24 PM ET
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Tight battle between Toews and Bergeron. Sworn enemies both, but I can’t deny it.
Posted by tuxedoTshirt from the Home of the 1937 World Champions on 02/01/12 at 02:51 PM ET