HabsWorld.net -- 

For the second straight day, a forward from the Habs has been named as a finalist for an end-of-season award.  This time, it’s Nick Suzuki as he is one of the three remaining contenders for the Selke Trophy.

The other two finalists for the award are Colorado centre Brock Nelson and Tampa Bay centre Anthony Cirelli, who gave Montreal a front-row seat to his candidacy in the first round of the playoffs.

The award goes to the forward who “best excels in the defensive aspects of the game” although in recent years, it feels like it has gone to a two-way player, not necessarily the top pure defensive forward.  The award is voted on by the Professional Writers Hockey Association at the end of the regular season.

Suzuki has been showing steady improvement at both the offensive and defensive end over his career and is coming off a career campaign.  Offensively, he set new career highs in assists (72) and points (101) while logging nearly 21 minutes of playing time despite not killing penalties on a regular basis (which could actually hurt his chances of winning).

Suzuki’s line outscored the opposition 94-58 when he was on the ice, a 61.8% goal share that came a little ahead of Nelson (60.4%) but behind Cirelli (64.4%).  He also ranked sixth in the league in total faceoffs taken, winning just over half of his 1,449 draws.

Two other Habs have previously won the award.  Bob Gainey won it in its first four years of being awarded (1978 through 1981) while Guy Carbonneau won it three times (1988, 1989, and 1992).  Suzuki finished 13th in voting for this award in each of the last two years but will be guaranteed a top-three spot this time around.

Suzuki joins Ivan Demidov (Calder) and Cole Caufield (Lady Byng) as finalists so far for the awards, the winners of which will be revealed at a later date in a yet-to-be-specified format.