NEW YORK — Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward, the league announced Saturday evening.
Barkov, 28, is a two-time Selke winner after also finishing first in voting for the award in 2021. He was a big part of the Panthers allowing the fewest goals this season and won 57.3% of his stakes in play, ranking ninth among players with at least 50 plays and 500 attempts.
The Finnish center received 156 of 194 first-place votes from members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and was on all but two ballots.
Teammate and forward Matthew Tkachuk, speaking after Friday night’s decisive victory over the Boston Bruins, called Barkov “the best player in the world right now,” adding that “I don’t even really have the words for describe what he does for our team. right away.”
Barkov led Florida to a second straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals. After helping the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights last summer, he will lead his team into the Eastern Conference final on Wednesday, against the New York Rangers.
“We went through that last year, obviously, and it helped a lot,” Barkov told SportsNet Friday night after knocking off the Bruins. “But this year is a new year. We have some new players, we’re just creating something new here, something really exciting. We’re very excited about this opportunity again and we can’t wait to get started.”
Carolina Hurricanes veteran Jordan Staal finished second in the voting and Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews finished third.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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