Ducks center Ryan Kesler is voted a finalist for NHL’s Selke trophy
Ducks center Ryan Kesler, who led the NHL by taking 773 defensive-zone faceoffs and also by winning 429 of those defensive-zone draws, is one of three finalists for the Selke Trophy, awarded annually by the NHL “to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.”
Kesler won the Selke Trophy in 2011 while he played for the Vancouver Canucks and is a finalist for the fifth time. The other finalists this year are Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu. Bergeron is a three-time Selke winner, but Koivu is a first-time finalist.
The award is chosen by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Assn. in voting that is conducted at the end of the regular season and before the playoffs begin.The winner will be announced June 21 during the NHL awards show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Here’s a press release from the NHL that details the qualifications of each of the three finalists.
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