2023-24 Frank J. Selke Trophy finalists: Aleksander Barkov, Auston Matthews, Jordan Staal | Winner: Aleksander Barkov

[Kelly]

Kopitar is better. Aho is better. Hintz is better. Even old man Crosby.

I'm fine if he's ranked top 10 or top 12, but this is a joke.

you saying these things doesnt make it true.

Back it up.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Matthews. Really?

 

[Idiot Stick]

Unironically thought reinhart should be on here.
Very defensively sound, but prob ridiculous to have two goonthers on there.

But then again being a selke finalist wont help in this years contract

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

I hope they hang a "34, Selke Finalist 2023-2024" banner where all their recent Cup banners were supposed to go.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Leaf Forwards and getting undeserved Selke votes, what a combo

 

[wingsfan17]

I don't know about what the advanced stats show, but feels like Trocheck should've at least been a finalist. Here's his season stats among forwards:

Top 50 in +/-
Top 40 in hits
Top 10 in blocked shots
Top 10 in Faceoff %
Top 30 in points
On 3rd best PK in the league

Also, Staal is dead last on his team in plus minus.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Barkov likely won in a runaway. Similar with Marner, it's just Leaf hype and media voters being like "uhh idk, I see Matthews get hyped a lot, I'll vote for him" when filling out the downballot.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Staal didn’t finish Top 3 in 2021 when he scored at a ~59 point pace.

This season he had 30 in 80 with a big minus.

Interesting.

 

[TS Quint]

No, I'd just like to give it to players who are actually excellent both ways. Not superstars Toronto media wants to slobber over with votes for random awards they don't qualify for.

Gotta justify that atrocious contract

 

[justHypnos]

With Matthews and Marner on the same team, the Leafs are blessed with one of the all-time defensive teams. With ROR too last year, no wonder they made round 2.

 

[lipstickjunkie]

It's hilarious that some think the only way to be effective defensively is to kill penalties.
It's equally hilarious that some don't understand that despite how effective Matthews may be at killing penalties, when you're as elite as he is at 5 on 5, it's just not the best way to utilize him.

 

[LOFIN]

I mean laugh all you want, but Matthews definitely has a case to be in the top-3

Selke Trophy deep dive: How should it be interpreted? Who should be considered?

The Selke Trophy is one of the trickiest to measure because it's difficult to interpret the award and difficult to actually measure defense.

theathletic.com

 

[123offtheglass]

Reinhart snubbed here, Lowry & Kopitar should've been strongly considered as well, they're honorable mentions.

Between these 3 it's Barkov by a mile.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Matthews? That deserves a laugh. Media driven agendas.

If we were going by the literal definition, Staal should have at least 5 Selke trophies by now. This isn't the "best 2 way forward" award, by definition it is best defensive forward. Which Staal has been through his entire career.

That said, considering the voters have changed the definition to best 2 way forward essentially, it's pretty hilarious that this is the year that Staal is a finalist as it was easily the worst season of his career. Aho and Jarvis are more worthy than Staal this year from the Canes alone.

Unfortunately Bergeron was still well ahead.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Kopitar is better. Aho is better. Hintz is better. Even old man Crosby.

Uh no, not Crosby.

Crosby was on the ice for a whopping 93 non-power play goals against this season. That's one of the worst defensive seasons a forward has had in decades.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

I mean laugh all you want, but Matthews definitely has a case to be in the top-3

Selke Trophy deep dive: How should it be interpreted? Who should be considered?

The Selke Trophy is one of the trickiest to measure because it's difficult to interpret the award and difficult to actually measure defense.

theathletic.com

When you cite The Athletic statboys who have been slobbering over the Leafs for years and threw a hissy fit when Dubas got canned.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Matthews? That deserves a laugh. Media driven agendas.

69 goals and a Selke nomination will make people trash players for no good reason when they aren't playing like peak Fedorov.

 

[MS]

This is even worse Toronto media BS than when Marner was nominated.

Matthews is a solid two-way player but the notion that he’s one of the top 3 defensive forwards in the sport is just absolute nonsense.

 

[LOFIN]

When you cite The Athletic statboys who have been slobbering over the Leafs for years and threw a hissy fit when Dubas got canned.

I mean the reporter who wrote this story is a former New York reporter so...

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Personally, I think we need to go back to 08-09 when Ovechkin was 2nd in league scoring, 1st in goals, and averaged 56 seconds on the PK.

Elite defense. GIVE THAT MAN HIS SELKE.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Pleasantly surprised to see Staal on this list. His lower-end offense has been a sticking point for Selke recognition over the years.

This being only his second finalist appearance is insane when you consider he’s one of the best pure defenders of the past 20 years.

 

[Midnight Judges]

If we were going by the literal definition, Staal should have at least 5 Selke trophies by now. This isn't the "best 2 way forward" award, by definition it is best defensive forward. Which Staal has been through his entire career.

That said, considering the voters have changed the definition to best 2 way forward essentially, it's pretty hilarious that this is the year that Staal is a finalist as it was easily the worst season of his career. Aho and Jarvis are more worthy than Staal this year from the Canes alone.

Selke voting has been pretty distorted over the years. The trophy was obviously created for the unheralded but very important Bob Gainey's of the world - players who play primarily a shutdown role at the expense of offense. -The type of guys who are sent over the boards when the other team's top line is taking an offensive zone face-off.

Somewhere along the way it converted, at least for some voters, into a "pumping my favorite superstar" vote, statistics be damned.

If it were up to me, I'm often voting for non-household name 3rd liners who are taking the toughest 5v5 match-ups, penalty killing 2 or more minutes per game, and taking a majority or at least near majority defensive zone starts. That's not a sexy vote.

Anyway, I like the Staal nomination.

33% offensive zone draws
2 minutes plus PK per game
Very effective in terms of ES goals against despite taking tough match-ups.

Checks all 3 boxes to a very high degree.

 

[The Podium]

Clearly most people on here don’t watch Matthews.

If anything it’s laughable it took this long to be recognized

 

[Hollowmoon]

This is Barkov.

 

[CanesUltimate11]

Staal didn’t finish Top 3 in 2021 when he scored at a ~59 point pace.

This season he had 30 in 80 with a big minus.

Interesting.

Lifetime achievement nomination before Jarvis takes his position as top defensive player (all be it not at center).