Already in rare company as 2-time finalist, Barkov misses out on second straight Selke
Aleksander Barkov is already in rare company as a multiple-time finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. He’ll still have to wait, however, to join even more elite company as a multiple-time winner.
After winning the award last season, the Florida Panthers’ captain missed out on a second straight Saturday. Instead, Patrice Bergeron is taking home a record fifth Selke Trophy.
Bergeron, a superstar center for the Boston Bruins, also won the trophy in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017. Elias Lindholm, a star forward for the Calgary Flames, was the other finalist for the first time.
Barkov finished third with 10 of 195 first-place votes. Winger Mason Marchment finished 18th, forward Sam Reinhart was tied for 27th and rookie center Anton Lundell was tied for 34th.
Last year, Barkov was a finalist for the first time and won the award, which is given annually to the league’s best defensive forward. In the 2020-21 NHL season, the star center set new career highs in points per game and faceoff percentage, and ranked ninth among all NHL forwards in average time on ice.
This year, Barkov once again set new career highs in points per game and faceoff percentage, but his spot as a Selke finalist was mostly a testament to the respect he has garnered across the last two seasons. While his two-way play was as good as ever, Barkov only played 67 games — Lindholm played all 82 and Bergeron played 73.
In those 67 games, Barkov was as good as ever. He set a new career high with 39 goals and notched 88 points despite missing 15 games. He also led all Panthers forwards in average time on ice and ranked second in shorthanded ice time, third in blocked shots and fifth in takeaways. His career-high 57.0 faceoff percentage was eighth best in the NHL.
Led by Barkov, Florida won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time.
The 26-year-old Finn is only the 28th player to be a finalist for the Selke Trophy multiple times. A win would have made him only the 10th player to win the trophy multiple times.
Barkov also finished sixth in voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy last season and won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy — the NHL’s sportsmanship award — back in 2019.
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 3:06 PM.
