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Winner named for NHL’s Selke Trophy as top defensive forward

NHL individual awards are voted on based on regular-season accomplishment, but Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov showed Friday night why he was the winner of the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward.

With the Boston Bruins pressing to tie Game 6, Barkov stuck out his hand to block a shot by David Pastrnak in the dying seconds to give the Panthers a series-clinching 2-1 victory that earned Florida a return trip to the Eastern Conference final.

Barkov was a runaway winner for his second career Selke Trophy, getting 165 first-round votes and 1,817 points. He topped the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal (539) and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews (514) in vote totals announced on Saturday.

Below are the finalists for each regular-season individual award, their achievements this season and the schedule for the announcement of the winners:

When will the NHL awards winners be announced?

There will be an awards show on June 27 in Las Vegas, the two before the NHL draft. The winners for Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, Norris Trophy, Vezina Trophy and Calder Trophy will be announced then.

Other awards will be announced earlier:

May 14: Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. Winner: New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba

May 15: Masterton Trophy for perseverance. Winner: Arizona Coyotes goalie Connor Ingram. Details and other finalists below

May 18: Selke Trophy for defensive forward. Winner: Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov. Details and other finalists below

May 22: Jack Adams Award for coach

May 28: King Clancy Trophy for humanitarian contribution

May 30: Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship

June 10: Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year

June 13: Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award

Who are the finalists for the Hart Trophy (MVP to his team)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid.

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association

Kucherov: He led the NHL and set a franchise record with 144 points, the second-most points by any player over the past 28 years. He factored in on half of Tampa Bay’s 288 total goals and became one of five players in NHL history to record 100 assists in a season. He’s a finalist for the second time won in 2018-19.

MacKinnon: He ranked second in the NHL and set a franchise record with 140 points. He led the league in even-strength points (92), multi-point games (44) and shots on goal (405) and recorded at least one point in his first 35 home games. He’s a Hart Trophy finalist for the fourth time but has never won.

McDavid: He scored 132 points in 76 games to help the Oilers surge from a 2-9-1 start and make the playoffs after a coaching change. He also hit the 100-assist milestone (before Kucherov). He’s a finalist for the sixth time and won the award three times.

Who are the finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews

Who votes: Members of the NHL Players’ Association

Note: Kucherov won the award in 2019 and Matthews won it in 2022. MacKinnon is a three-time finalist but has never won. Matthews led the league this season with 69 goals, the most since 1995-96.

Who are the finalists for the Selke Trophy (defensive forward)?

Finalists (in order of vote total): Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov, Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews.

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association

Barkov: He took a team-leading 1,100 face-offs and won 57.3% to rank ninth in the NHL. He placed fifth among NHL forwards in plus-minus with a +33 rating. The three-time finalist won the award in 2020-21.

Staal: He led Hurricanes forwards in shorthanded ice time for the NHL’s top penalty-killing unit. He took a team-leading 1,375 face-offs and won 58.1% of them. He previously was a finalist in 2009-10

Matthews: The league’s leading goal scorer ranked second among NHL forwards in takeaways (85), tied for second in blocked shots (93) and was seventh in plus-minus (+31). The first-time finalist is also up for the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship.

Who are the finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy (sportsmanship)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association

Matthews: He led the league with 69 goals and finished sixth with 107 points while recording only 20 penalty minutes, the fewest among the NHL’s top 15 scorers. He’s a three-time finalist.

Pettersson: He had his third consecutive 30-goal season while helping lead the Canucks to the Pacific Division title. He had only 12 penalty minutes. He’s a first-time finalist.

Slavin: He played nearly 1,700 minutes and recorded 37 points while being assessed only eight penalty minutes. He won the award in 2020-21 and finished second in voting the following year.

Who are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award (coach)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Winnipeg Jets’ Rick Bowness, Nashville Predators’ Andrew Brunette and Vancouver Canucks’ Rick Tocchet

Who votes: NHL Broadcasters’ Association

Brunette: The first-year Predators coach led Nashville back to the playoffs after an eight-season streak ended in 2022-23. The team had a franchise-record 18-game point streak. He was a runner-up for the award with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22.

Tocchet: In his first full season as Canucks coach, he led Vancouver back to the playoffs and to the Pacific Division title with 50 wins and 109 points. The Canucks jumped from 22nd to sixth in points. Tocchet is a first-time finalist.

Who are the finalists for the Masterton Trophy (perseverance)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram and Calgary Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington.

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association. Each chapter nominates a player then the entire membership votes on the nominees.

Andersen: He missed 49 games with a blood-clotting issue. After returning in March, he went 9-1-0 with a 1.30 goals-against average, .951 save percentage and three shutouts to help the Hurricanes finish third in the NHL overall standings.  

Ingram: He nearly retired because of undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and lingering depression before he sought help through the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program in 2021. He was claimed by the Arizona Coyotes in 2022 and this season had 23 wins and tied for the league lead with six shutouts.

Kylington: He returned to the Flames in late January after missing more than a year and a half because of mental-health reasons. He skated in 33 games and had eight points while averaging more than 17 minutes of ice time a game.

Who are the finalists for the Norris Trophy (defenseman)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Vancouver Canucks’ Quinn Hughes, Nashville Predators’ Roman Josi and Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar.

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association

Hughes: He led all defensemen with 75 assists and 92 points – breaking his franchise records for a defenseman – as the Canucks won their first playoff berth since 2019‑20 and first division title since 2012-13. The first-time finalist was named Canucks captain this season. His younger brother Luke is a finalist for rookie of the year.

Josi: He led defensemen in goals (23), power-play goals (nine) and shots on goal (268) and finished third with 85 points. His goals were the most in NHL history by a defenseman 33 and older. He had 24 points during the Predators’ 18-game point streak that pushed Nashville into a playoff spot. Josi won the award in 2019-20 and finished second in 2021-22.

Makar: He had 21 goals, 69 assists and 90 points to top defensemen with 1.17 points per game – the third-highest average by a defenseman over the past 30 seasons (minimum: 50 games). Makar set single-season franchise records for assists and points by a defenseman and led NHL defensemen in power-play points (39). He’s a finalist for the fourth time in his five seasons and won in 2021-22. 

Who are the finalists for the Calder Trophy (rookie)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard, Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber and New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes.

Who votes: Professional Hockey Writers Association

Bedard: He led or tied for first among rookies in goals (22), assists (39) and points (61) despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw. He also led rookies in shots on goal (206) and takeaways (47). He was first on the Blackhawks in assists and points and tied for first in goals. He had a five-point game on March 12 against Anaheim and scored a lacrosse-style ‘Michigan’ goal on Dec. 23 against St. Louis.

Faber: He had eight goals, 39 assists and 47 points. He tied for first among rookie in assists and led rookies in average ice time (24:58) and blocked shots (150). He broke the Wild’s previous record for points by a rookie defenseman (Filip Kuba, 30 in 2000-01).

Hughes: He finished with nine goals, 38 assists and 47 points. He led all rookies with 21 power-play assists and 25 power-play points.

Who are the finalists for the Vezina Trophy (goaltender)?

Finalists (in alphabetical order): Florida Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky, Vancouver Canucks’ Thatcher Demko and Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck.

Who votes: General managers

Bobrovsky (36-17-4, 2.37 goals-against average, .915 save percentage, six shutouts): He helped the Panthers finish with 110 points, second-most in franchise history. He had a 14-1-1 stretch from Dec. 23 to Feb. 20 as Florida rose from third place to first. Bobrovsky won the award in 2013 and 2017 while with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Demko (35-14-2, 2.45 goals-against average, .918 save percentage, five shutouts): He set career bests in wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts in just 51 starts as the Canucks won their first division title since 2012-13. He went 18-2-1 from Dec. 8 – Feb. 15. The first-time finalist missed five weeks down the stretch with a knee injury.

Hellebuyck (37-19-4, 2.39 goals-against average, .921 save percentage, five shutouts): He won the Jennings Trophy as the goaltender on the team allowing the fewest regular-season goals. Hellebuyck yielded three or fewer goals in 50 of his 60 appearances, including a pair of 10-game streaks with two or fewer goals against. He won the award in 2020 and was a finalist two other times, including last season.

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