Barkov wins Selke Trophy as top defensive forward

Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers has been named the 2020-21 winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy as "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game," the league announced Friday.

The award is voted on annually by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Mark Stone of the Vegas Golden Knights and Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins were the other finalists.

Barkov, a first-time finalist for the Selke, was listed on 92 of 100 ballots and earned 62 first-place votes to claim the award.

Florida's captain registered 58 points in 50 games this season while averaging 20:56 of ice time per contest, good for 10th among all NHL forwards. The Panthers dominated possession with Barkov on the ice at five-on-five, notching 61.43% of expected goals and 59.85% of shot attempts, according to Evolving Hockey.

Barkov also recorded 39 takeaways and won 54.9% of his faceoffs.

The 25-year-old is the fifth player in NHL history to win both the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and the Selke, joining Pavel Datsyuk, Ron Francis, Anze Kopitar, and Ryan O'Reilly.

Copyright (C) 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.