Florida Panthers Aleksander Barkov wins first Selke Trophy

Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has won his first ever Selke Trophy.

Widely considered one of the league’s most underrated stars, Barkov was named on 92 of 100 ballots receiving a whopping 62 first-place votes. Patrice Bergeron, who placed second in voting, received 15 first-place votes while the third-placed Mark Stone received 11 first-place votes. No other player received more than four first-place votes.

Barkov helped the Panthers post their lowest goals against per game (2.70) since 2015-16 and a drop of over half a goal per game from last years 3.25. Barkov led Florida forwards and was ninth among forwards across the league in ice time (20:56) and won 54.9% of his 1,026 faceoffs this year. This was Barkov’s first Selke nomination.

Barkov’s e would become the fifth player to win a Selke and a Lady Byng trophy in their career joining Pavel Datsyuk, Ron Francis, Anze Kopitar and Ryan O’Reilly.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.