Florida Panthers centre Aleksander Barkov has earned the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward for the second time in his career.
The NHL announced Barkov as this year’s winner on Saturday.
Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the award following the conclusion of the regular season.
Barkov, who also captured the trophy in 2021, was voted ahead of Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Barkov received 165 first-place votes, 19 second and five third, totalling 1,817 points. Staal, who came in second, received four first-place votes and had 539 points. Matthews received two first-place votes and finished with 514 points.
Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry finished in the top-10, while Montreal’s Nick Suzuki, Vancouver’s J.T. Miller, Toronto’s Mitch Marner and Calgary’s Mikael Backlund finished in the top-20.
The 28-year-old from Tampere, Finland, finished third on the Panthers in scoring with 80 points (23 goals and 57 assists) through 73 games in the regular season. He led all forwards on the team with a plus-33 rating and a career-high 57.3 per cent face-off win percentage as the Panthers claimed the Atlantic Division title.
