The Selke nominees come in

by James Mirtle on Apr 29, 2009 11:04 AM CDT Comment 3 comments

I'm a day late on this one, but I've also done a bit of analysis on defensive forwards already. I didn't pick them this way, but I've got few qualms with this year's nominees:

Once again, Datsyuk is a finalist for the Selke Award, along with Philadelphia Flyers center Mike Richards and Vancouver Canucks center/right winger Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks. All three have excellent credentials and define the concept "hard to play against."

Kesler and Richards leave opponents bruised and battered, while Datsyuk leaves them feeling they've had their pocket picked. All three are team leaders. Richards is captain of the Flyers, while Datsyuk and Kesler are alternate captains.

Here was my ballot, which had all three of these fellows on it:

Mike Richards, Philadelphia
Mikko Koivu, Minnesota
Joe Pavelski, San Jose
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit
Ryan Kesler, Vancouver

I believe Richards will win this season, but Datsyuk is likely a close second despite the fact the Red Wings as a whole had a poor season in terms of goals against. And I bet Kesler wins one in the next handful of years.

UPDATE Tom Benjamin has more on Kesler's nomination.

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You know, when the Devils were known as the poster trap-happy team in the league, it seemed like they had at least one player nominated for this award every season. In these last few years when Lemaire has made the Wild the designated trappers, I wonder why Mikko Koivu hasn’t benefited from the same treatment.

by Costa24 on Apr 29, 2009 3:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs