Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has won his first-ever Frank J. Selke trophy as the league’s best defensive forward, beating out Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk -- a three-time winner -- and last year’s winner, Patrice Bergeron.
The win comes after Toews finished second to Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler for the award in 2011.
“Captain Serious” finished third in the NHL with a plus-28 rating this season and tied for the league lead in takeaways, with 56. He boasted a stellar 59.9 faceoff winning percentage and was a key part of Chicago’s penalty kill, which was the third best during the regular season.
With the win, Toews becomes just the third Chicago forward to win the award, joining Dirk Graham (1990-91) and Troy Murray (1985-86).
Top 10 voting results for 2013 Selke
(1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place votes in parentheses)
1. Jonathan Toews, CHI 1260 (75-51-20-16-5)
2. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 1250 (78-44-24-12-6)
3. Pavel Datsyuk, DET 737 (8-37-58-31-15)
4. Anze Kopitar, L.A. 266 (4-7-19-25-7)
5. David Backes, STL 240 (3-10-12-17-29)
6. Jay McClement, TOR 142 (4-2-7-13-14)
7. Pascal Dupuis, PIT 111 (4-3-5-6-7)
8. Ryan Callahan, NYR 101 (1-3-6-8-16)
9. Derek Stepan, NYR 98 (1-2-5-14-7)
10. Marian Hossa, CHI 78 (1-4-3-4-13)