HabsWorld.net --
All season long, there was plenty of speculation about Nick Suzuki being a Selke Trophy contender. That proved to be quite accurate as on Friday, the NHL announced that he is this year’s winner of the award in a landslide vote.
The award is given annually to “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. That said, it typically has morphed into an award for the best two-way player in the league over the years.
It’s the first time that Suzuki has been a finalist for the award although he received down-ballot consideration in the previous two seasons when he finished 13th in voting.
Suzuki has shown steady improvement both offensively and defensively over his seven seasons with the Habs. Offensively, he has improved his point total in five straight years, putting up 29 goals and 72 assists while once again playing in every game. He also averaged nearly 21 minutes per game of ice time despite not taking a regular turn on the penalty kill.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side, Suzuki’s line outscored the opposition 94-58 when he was on the ice, a 61.8% goal share overall which helped Montreal’s top line become one of the bigger threats in the league. He also ranked sixth in the league in total faceoffs taken, winning just over half of his 1,449 draws.
The other two finalists for the award were Anthony Cirelli and Brock Nelson, who finished second and third respectively. Writers voted for five players on each ballot with points being 10 for first place, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth, and one for fifth.
Suzuki had 1,726 voter points overall compared to 467 for Cirelli and 406 for Nelson. Suzuki had 151 first-place votes out of 197, along with 23 votes for second, six for third, seven for fourth, and four for fifth, meaning he appeared on all but six ballots.
Suzuki becomes the third player in franchise history to take home the award, joining Bob Gainey (four wins) and Guy Carbonneau (three) as previous winners.
