NHL Revamps Selke Trophy Announcement as Matthews and Marner Come Up Short

The Toronto Maple Leafs were a much better defensive team this season, and a lot of it can be credited to both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who led the charge up front and caused opponents to be frustrated at every turn.

But it wasn't meant to be this season for the duo, as it was Florida's Aleksander Barkov who took the hardware home, and did so in a touching manner.

The Panthers had the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital patients present Barkov with the Frank J. Selke, as well as the King Clancy Award.

Barkov secures his third Selke, and second in a row. He's arguably the NHL's best defensive forward and his incredible possession and analytical numbers prove he's as dangerous with the puck as he is off it.

This season, Barkov registered 71 points in 67 games (20G, 51A) to go along with only 16 PIM, a 56.4% face-off win percentage, but his analytics is where he really shines.

His Corsi For% was 62.6%, his Corsi For/60 was 79.6 and was worth a blistering 7.2 Point Share; he was a game changer on both offense and defense, and could be very well compared to a prime Patrice Bergeron; one of the greatest defensive forwards ever and a record-six time recipient.

While Marner is gone and might be in the running with another team, focusing on Matthews specifically, he certainly improved this year under Craig Berube.

Given a more defensively focused role, Matthews shined and while his offensive numbers and possession numbers took a bit of a hit, he was still fantastic even though he missed 15 games.

He still had a positive xGF to xGA ratio, and was still worth 1.9 DPS (Defensive Point Shares) which tied Barkov's rate this season.

Matthews skated in 67 games, but still managed 78 points (33G, 45A) and still managed nearly 90 blocks; he was hurt but would still put his body on the line.

You can also see how much Berube relied on him, given that he was on the ice for 16 power play goals; he had been on the ice for a total of three over the past eight seasons.

This season, Craig Berube wanted to mould Auston Matthews into a more complete center, and while he dealt with injuries and a blow to his goal-scoring, it's all part of the bigger plan.

A plan which could see Matthews contend with Barkov for the Selke for years to come.