Toronto’s Auston Matthews finishes 3rd in Selke voting, Mitch Marner finishes 17th

It’s the Stanley Cup playoffs, which means it’s also the time of year when the NHL awards start being handed out to players around the league from this past season.

Over the past few days, some awards have been announced, such as the Mark Messier Leadership Award, Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, and tonight, the Selke Trophy, which goes to the best defensive forward, voted by the PHWA (Professional Hockey Writers Association.

This year’s finalists were Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes, and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs. This marks consecutive seasons that a Maple Leafs forward has been named a finalist for the trophy, as Mitch Marner finished third in voting last season behind New Jersey’s Nico Hischier and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron, who won his sixth Selke.

This was the first time Matthews has been named a finalist after receiving votes in five of his last seven seasons, finishing 38th, 16th, 27th, 10th and 14th.

The 2023-24 Selke Trophy has been awarded to Florida’s Aleksander Barkov after receiving 165 first-place votes. This marks Barkov’s second Selke Trophy, with his first coming during the 2020-21 season when he received 62 first-place votes, beating out Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Vegas’ Mark Stone.