This season’s ballot for the Selke Trophy has a bit of Florida Panthers flavor.
On Friday, the NHL announced the three finalists for the 2025 Frank J. Selke Trophy.
Last year’s winner, Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov, was expected to be among them, and he is.
While Barkov may be the favorite to repeat in many people’s eyes, his greatest challenge may come from somebody he’s quite familiar with.
Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who spent the majority of this season on Barkov’s right win, is also one of the three finalists.
It’s pretty remarkable that Florida has two of the absolute defensive forwards in the NHL on the same line, on the same power play and on the same penalty kill.
They are elite, and the only reason Reinhart isn’t discussed more as a top defensive player is because he plays directly next to Barkov.
Interestingly, the third finalist is also from the state of Florida. It’s Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli.
Barkov is looking to become only the seventh player in NHL history to win the Selke in back-to-back years, potentially joining Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Jere Lehtinen, Rod Brind’Amour, Pavel Datsyuk and Patrice Bergeron.
In addition to winning the Selke Trophy last season, Barkov also took home the award in 2020-21.
For both Reinhart and Cirelli, this is their first time as an NHL Awards finalist.
The winners will be announced at the NHL Awards ceremony, which this season takes place in Los Angeles on June 27.
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