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Looking at the Selke Trophy candidates

Derick Brassard, Marc Methot

Vancouver Canucks’ Ryan Kesler celebrates his game-winning and hat trick goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the overtime period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, Canada on Wednesday Dec. 15, 2010. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press - Darryl Dyck)

AP

The ballots have been distributed to members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the year-end awards and debate is starting for each category. Since voting for the “best defensive forward” is such a subjective award, the Selke is usually one of the toughest to vote on. With that in mind, here are a few players who will get consideration this year—and a few who should.

The Usual Suspects

Ryan Kesler: The powerful 2-way forward in Vancouver has been the favorite this season since the moment Pavel Datsyuk’s name was called in Las Vegas last June. He finished as runner-up last season and if everything goes as expected, this will be the third straight year he’ll be up for the award. Among players who have played at least 70 games this season, Kesler is third in the league with a 17.9 CORSI rating. On top of the penalty killing, 3 shorthanded goals, and 57.4% faceoff percentage, he’s tied for 5th in the league with 37 goals. They can say offensive numbers don’t matter, but every year the finalists consist of great two-way players—not defensive specialists.

Pavel Datsyuk: The three-time defending Selke Trophy winner will be in the discussion until the day retires. Let’s put it this way, the last person to win the award NOT named Pavel Datsyuk was Rod Brind’Amour. That would be retired former Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour. He’s in the top 10 in takeaways (as usual), yet he’s only played in 53 games. Voters are creatures of habit so he’ll always be in the conversation, but missing so many games due to injury may keep him off the podium this year.

Jonathan Toews: If Datsyuk usually excels in the takeaway category, then Toews is approaching his level. He’s second in the league with 90 takeaways, but even more impressive is that he only has given away the puck 26 times. Sure, these are highly subjective statistics—but any gap that substantial is bound to get the attention of voters. He’s an impressive 56.3% in the faceoff dot and plays almost 2 minutes per game killing penalties for the Blackhawks.

The Dark Horse Candidates

Frans Nielson: If for no other reason, Frans Nielsen is going to get consideration because of his 7 shorthanded goals and 8 shorthanded points. His 2:59 per game of shorthanded ice-time is more than every defenseman on his team other than Mark Eaton. That in itself shows how much Scott Gordon and Jack Capuano trust him on the ice.

Manny Malhotra: Ryan Kesler may have been preordained as the Selke nominee from the Canucks this season—but people around the team will tell you that newcomer Manny Malhotra has been just as important (if not more) to the team for keeping the puck out of their own net. His 61.7% faceoff percentage is 2nd in the league (Steckel) and he starts 75% of his shifts in the defensive zone. When Alain Vigneault has utilized a stopper unit, Malhotra has been centering it. His near catastrophic eye-injury last month has drawn attention to what he’s done for the Canucks, but it’s still hard to believe he’ll get any of the votes already headed Kesler’s way.

Deserve more consideration

Ryan Callahan: Looking at hockey’s advanced statistics, Ryan Callahan’s name shows up all over the place. He plays against the best competition (relative to CORSI) and is still putting up good numbers on both the offensive side and team statistics while he’s on the ice. Of course, playing on the same line as Brandon Dubinsky, playing wing (not center), and the NY hockey writers boycotting the vote won’t help at all. But he should probably get more consideration than he’ll get.

Anze Kopitar: The Los Angeles Kings launched a mini-effort for Kopitar to receive some recognition for his two-way play before he was sidelined with a gruesome ankle injury. He’s a team-best +25 and Terry Murray has trusted him with some of the toughest match-ups the league has to offer. On most nights, the Kings head coach trusted the young Slovenian to match-up against the opponent’s best lines, shut them down with strong two-way play, and still lead his team in scoring. If he’s getting noticed this year, he may get a little more recognition next year.

David Backes: Being +28 on a team that isn’t going to be close to making the playoffs should count for something; especially considering the fact that the next best forward on his team is a +14. Throw in 209 hits this season and it’s easy to see he’s been doing things the right way when he doesn’t have the puck.

Dave Bolland: Ryan Callahan may play against the strongest competition when it comes to CORSI, but if we were to look at relative plus/minus of the competition, Bolland is drawing the hardest assignments in the league. Suffering an injury when the voters are looking for candidates certainly won’t help his cause, and neither will sharing the same jersey as Jonathan Toews. Regardless, Bolland should be somewhere on the “others receiving votes” list this year.

What about you? Who do you think should be the three finalists this year for the Selke Trophy? Let us know in the comments.