Following up on yesterday's look at the top defensive defencemen, here is my breakdown of which forwards have excelled in their own end this year.
This analysis relies on figures compiled by statistician Gabriel Desjardins at Behind The Net, a terrific site for some of the newer, advanced statistics that are becoming more popular these days.
The list ranks forwards who play in defensive situations by three measures: the quality of players they face (QCMP) and how many goals they are on the ice for at even strength and while shorthanded:
| RK | NAME | TEAM | QCMP | EVGA/60 | SHGA/60 |
| 1 | BROOKS LAICH | WSH | 0.071 | 1.44 | 4.50 |
| 2 | GREG CAMPBELL | BOS | 0.090 | 1.84 | 4.41 |
| 3 | TOMAS PLEKANEC | MTL | 0.072 | 2.01 | 3.44 |
| 4 | MATT COOKE | PIT | 0.061 | 1.89 | 2.47 |
| 5 | MAXIME TALBOT | PIT | 0.032 | 1.39 | 3.17 |
| 6 | DAVID LEGWAND | NSH | 0.068 | 2.04 | 2.60 |
| 7 | ALEX BURROWS | VAN | 0.055 | 1.69 | 4.46 |
| 8 | JONATHAN TOEWS | CHI | 0.126 | 2.00 | 5.81 |
| 9 | JANNIK HANSEN | VAN | 0.001 | 1.70 | 2.73 |
| 10 | JEFF HALPERN | MTL | 0.061 | 2.23 | 3.28 |
| 11 | JOEL WARD | NSH | 0.050 | 2.08 | 4.06 |
| 12 | MARTIN HANZAL | PHX | 0.091 | 2.04 | 6.08 |
| 13 | DANA TYRELL | T.B | 0.039 | 2.21 | 1.73 |
| 14 | CHRIS HIGGINS | FLA | -0.005 | 1.67 | 3.86 |
| 15 | BRIAN BOYLE | NYR | -0.003 | 1.70 | 4.47 |
| 16 | FERNANDO PISANI | CHI | 0.070 | 1.62 | 12.65 |
| 17 | JOSH BAILEY | NYI | 0.018 | 2.06 | 3.50 |
| 18 | MARTY REASONER | FLA | 0.000 | 1.88 | 4.18 |
| 19 | RADEK DVORAK | FLA | -0.032 | 1.60 | 4.39 |
| 20 | MATT CULLEN | MIN | 0.013 | 2.21 | 2.47 |
| 21 | MARIAN HOSSA | CHI | 0.051 | 1.74 | 6.65 |
| 22 | TRAVIS MOEN | MTL | -0.005 | 1.92 | 4.17 |
| 23 | BRANDON SUTTER | CAR | 0.048 | 1.71 | 7.10 |
| 24 | PATRICE BERGERON | BOS | 0.047 | 1.63 | 7.54 |
| 25 | PAUL GAUSTAD | BUF | -0.012 | 1.30 | 5.61 |
| 26 | TOM PYATT | MTL | -0.005 | 1.74 | 5.12 |
| 27 | ADAM BURISH | DAL | 0.031 | 1.77 | 6.18 |
| 28 | RYAN KESLER | VAN | -0.011 | 1.64 | 5.38 |
| 29 | MANNY MALHOTRA | VAN | 0.024 | 2.22 | 4.74 |
| 30 | DANIEL WINNIK | COL | 0.017 | 1.56 | 7.37 |
Honourable mentions: Mikko Koivu, Sami Pahlsson, Jason Pominville, David Backes
Two notes on this list: If a player plays with another teammate almost exclusively, it's difficult to separate them statistically, so you do see linemates make appearances on the list often. The other thing is players on teams with either really good or really poor goaltending will have their numbers affected by that.
Most on this list would make good candidates for the Selke Trophy, although some are obviously better than others. Some players are merely role players playing on checking lines and the penalty kill, and others like Toews, Hossa, Bergeron and Kesler are relied on to do far more and probably should receive far more attention when it comes to awards voting.
This analysis gives no value to offensive production, which seems to help in terms of garnering Selke votes, and only includes players who play a key role while shorthanded.
