The NHL has announced the three finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy and Carolina Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal was named as one of the finalists.
The Selke Trophy is awarded annually by members of the Professional Hockey Writer's Association to "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game."
Staal, 35, finished the season with 10 goals and 30 points in 80 games this season but as the trophy states, it was on the defensive side that he excelled.
The veteran centerman had the best possession numbers of his career and also the entire league— 63.41 CF%, 63.07% xGF%, 66.04 HDCF% — while also giving up the fewest expected goals of his career.
While Staal had tremendous possession/suppression numbers, he was also terribly unlucky on both ends of the ice as well.
It's well known that he has struggled to make an impact consistently on offense, his entire line generally consists of players who don't have the softest hands, but he also wasn't getting any goaltending support with an on-ice save percentage of just 0.882 while he was on the ice at 5v5.
But it's nice to see Staal still getting the recognition he deserves despite things out of his control.
(Numbers courtesy of naturalstattrick.com)
Alongside that, the Canes' captain also had the fifth best faceoff percentage in the league (58.1%) and was the lead player on the NHL's best penalty kill.
Staal is the second ever player in franchise history to be a finalist for the award joining his coach Rod Brind'Amour who won the Selke in 2005-06 and 2006-07.
The other two finalists are Florida's Aleksander Barkov, who won the award in 2020-21, and Toronto's Auston Matthews.