Who will win the NHL’s Selke Trophy in 2024?

There will be a changing of the guard at the conclusion of the season. Shortly after the Stanley Cup is skated around by the NHL’s championship team, the league will hand out is end-of-season awards. One of those honors will go to the league’s best defensive forward. The Selke Trophy has regularly belonged to Patrice Bergeron over much of the last decade.

Bergeron will not come away with the honor this season as his legendary career came to an end in the offseason. The former captain of the Boston Bruins retired in the weeks before the start of training camp and that means he will not win his seventh Selke Trophy.

There has been talk that the award should be renamed in favor of Bergeron, but that has not happened yet. The same subject was raised by observers in the early 1980s when Bob Gainey of the Montreal Canadiens won the Selke Award in four of the first five years the honor was bestowed. Many thought the Hall of Famer should have had the award named after him.

Perhaps it can be renamed the Bergeron-Gainey Award in honor of both stellar defensive forwards at some point. That could be the subject for debate on another day.

There are three standout defensive forwards this season that could be deserving of the honor in the 2023-24 season. They include Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens, Adam Lowry of the Winnipeg Jets and Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers.

Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens continued to struggle this season, and they have just 73 points going into the final games of the season, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are the only team beneath them in the Eastern Conference  standings.

While they haven’t been able to jump up in the standings, head coach Marty St. Louis has been able to build a solid core of players for the future with Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Mike Matheson and Juraj Slafkofsky.

All of those players have been productive, but it is Suzuki who has the best all-around game. He lead the Habs in scoring with 33 goals and 43 assists. In addition to his offensive numbers, Suzuki has done an outstanding job defensively against Montreal’s toughest offensive performers.

Suzuki has an excellent understanding of how opponents want to attack and he excels at getting in the passing lanes and taking way scoring opportunities.

The Canadiens are not a strong defensive team and some voters may not want to give Suzuki full consideration, but he has become one of the more better defensive players in the league.

Adam Lowry, Winnipeg Jets

When it comes to defensive play by forwards, Lowry has done an outstanding job. He is almost always on the ice when the Jets are facing the best offensive players.

He is highly skilled at preventing opponents from making big plays in the middle of the ice. His understanding of how opponents are planning to attack shows he has been watching plenty of film and is clearly doing a solid job in the defensive zone.

Lowry does not have the kind of stellar offensive numbers that will make voters take notice. He has 10 goals and 23 assists, but he does have a plus-15 rating. He also wins 49.3 percent of his faceoffs.

When he is not victorious, he is often able to come up with deflections and steals that break up opponents rushes.

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers

Barkov is the clear favorite to win the Selke Award this season. He was Bergeron’s primary competition for many years, and he has won the honor once. He came away with the trophy after the 2020-21 season.

Barkov continues to dominate in the all-around game. He has scored 23 goals and 54 assists, and that means he has to take a back seat in terms of production to both Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk.

While Reinhart is also a very good defensive performer in addition to a 55-goal scorer, it is Barkov who is on the ice at the most crucial defensive moments. He is always competing when the Panthers are facing their most dangerous offensive opponents.

He performs with expertise and confidence in the most crucial situations, and he would be a worthy Selke Award winner if he ends up following in Bergeron’s footsteps and gaining the trophy once the Stanley Cup is awarded.