With the season winding down, one of the things I want to do is take a spin through some of the major awards this final week and offer up my picks. In order to do so for the Selke, what follows is a statistical ranking I use to sort out some of the league’s top defensive forwards.
The three stats I generally use come via Behind The Net and are quality of competition, goals against at even strength and goals against while shorthanded. Players also have to have played a minimum of 50 games and play regularly on the penalty kill.
Here’s my list, using stats from after Saturday’s games:
| ........... | NAME | TEAM | GP | QCMP | EVGA | SHGA | |
| 1 | BLAIR BETTS | PHI | 59 | 0.03 | 1.61 | 4.62 | |
| 2 | BJ CROMBEEN | STL | 75 | 0.04 | 2.17 | 3.99 | |
| 3 | SCOTT GOMEZ | MTL | 75 | 0.08 | 2.38 | 3.47 | |
| 4 | TRAVIS ZAJAC | N.J | 78 | 0.09 | 1.65 | 6.30 | |
| 5 | BRIAN GIONTA | MTL | 58 | 0.09 | 2.43 | 4.21 | |
| 6 | DAYMOND LANGKOW | CGY | 72 | 0.02 | 2.16 | 3.72 | |
| 7 | BRANDON DUBINSKY | NYR | 64 | 0.12 | 2.58 | 3.99 | |
| 8 | TOMAS PLEKANEC | MTL | 79 | 0.08 | 2.26 | 5.33 | |
| 9 | PATRICE BERGERON | BOS | 70 | 0.15 | 2.52 | 4.83 | |
| 10 | JOCHEN HECHT | BUF | 77 | 0.06 | 2.54 | 3.29 | |
| 11 | ROB NIEDERMAYER | N.J | 67 | 0.02 | 2.05 | 5.10 | |
| 12 | JAY MCCLEMENT | STL | 78 | 0.07 | 2.46 | 4.58 | |
| 13 | SAMUEL PAHLSSON | CBJ | 76 | 0.05 | 2.03 | 6.02 | |
| 14 | SAKU KOIVU | ANA | 68 | 0.01 | 2.00 | 5.12 | |
| 15 | CURTIS GLENCROSS | CGY | 67 | -0.04 | 1.67 | 3.80 | |
| 16 | J. LANGENBRUNNER | N.J | 77 | 0.14 | 2.19 | 6.89 | |
| 17 | VERNON FIDDLER | PHX | 72 | -0.02 | 2.15 | 3.82 | |
| 18 | DANIEL WINNIK | PHX | 70 | -0.04 | 2.09 | 2.70 | |
| 19 | JORDAN STAAL | PIT | 78 | 0.04 | 2.16 | 5.91 | |
| 20 | PATRICK MARLEAU | S.J | 78 | 0.05 | 2.38 | 5.20 | |
| 21 | DANIEL ALFREDSSON | OTT | 67 | 0.15 | 2.75 | 4.87 | |
| 22 | RENE BOURQUE | CGY | 68 | 0.07 | 2.56 | 5.15 | |
| 23 | MARTIN HANZAL | PHX | 77 | 0.05 | 2.02 | 7.20 | |
| 24 | ALEX BURROWS | VAN | 76 | 0.01 | 2.27 | 4.58 | |
| 25 | KIRK MALTBY | DET | 51 | -0.12 | 1.41 | 4.11 | |
| 26 | DREW MILLER | DET | 75 | -0.06 | 1.37 | 4.99 | |
| 27 | CRAIG CONROY | CGY | 58 | -0.02 | 2.09 | 5.02 | |
| 28 | CHRIS HIGGINS | CGY | 67 | 0.03 | 2.47 | 4.70 | |
| 29 | JEFF HALPERN | L.A | 67 | 0.06 | 2.32 | 6.16 | |
| 30 | CHRIS DRURY | NYR | 72 | 0.03 | 2.28 | 5.80 |
Generally speaking, players like Betts don’t often get much consideration for the Selke as more high profile names are in the mix. I imagine this year’s winner is likely to have a decent plus-minus and some name recognition, and from that group, Langenbrunner, Staal, Marleau, Alfredsson and Burrows would all be decent choices.
Keep in mind that I’m only considering players who play about two minutes a game on the penalty kill so players like Pavel Datsyuk aren’t included. Others, who kill penalties for defensive teams (like the Habs), may be a bit of a surprise.
