The reigning king of two-way, shutdown play takes home another crown. Aleksander Barkov has captured his third Frank J. Selke Trophy in five years today. Just a bit of news to prepare us for the week to come that sees his Florida Panthers take on the Edmonton Oilers in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final set to begin on Wednesday.
Aleksander Barkov wins the Selke Trophy for a second straight year and the third time overall. https://t.co/9EsHWsBhmA
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 2, 2025
Aleksander Barkov Wins his Third Selke Trophy
Barkov has been one of the best forwards over the past number of years, let alone defensive forwards. Over his 12-year career thus far he’s nearly a point-per-game player with 782 points in 804 games. He’s also a former Lady Byng winner, and of course, a defending cup champ. Furthermore, he’s simply regarded as one of the toughest players to play against.
He plays a very low-event game. As much as he’s on the puck, and as a centreman, he only had 52 giveaways this year. His point share was 7.2, and he has a Corsi relative percentage of 9.8. For a guy not known for his offensive prowess, when so many of the leagues top scorers that he matches up against score at such a high rate, these stats really begin to jump off the page. It is also interesting to note, his linemate Sam Reinhart was second in Selke voting.
For Aleksander Barkov, ever since his predecessor retired, the Selke has been his to own. Patrice Bergeron was a six-time recipient of the award, with his last time being 2022-23, the last year he played before retiring. Now, Barkov has won the past two titles. He will be looking to continue this type of play, as he tries to shutdown Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and the rest of the Oilers offence as they begin their Stanley Cup Final rematch. It will be a great matchup of offence versus defence, just as it was last year.
Main Photo: James Guillory – Imagn Images
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