Frank J. Selke Trophy

Lore & Background

The trophy was first awarded at the end of the 1977–78 NHL season. It was named after Frank J. Selke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. The Selke Trophy was the fifth and last of the major NHL awards to be introduced that have been named after General Managers and owners of the Original Six teams, the other awards being the Art Ross Trophy, James Norris Memorial Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy, and Jack Adams Award. The first recipient was Bob Gainey of the Canadiens, who won the trophy the first four years it was given. Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins has won it more times than any other player, with six wins. Guy Carbonneau, Jere Lehtinen, Pavel Datsyuk and Aleksander Barkov are tied for the third-most wins, with three apiece. The Montreal Canadiens have won the trophy the most times, with 8 awards. The team with the greatest number of unique winners are the Red Wings with 4—Sergei Fedorov (twice), Steve Yzerman, Kris Draper, and Datsyuk (three times)—all coming since 1994.

In Their Own Story

The arena was half-empty by the third intermission, the kind of cold November night when the ice looked like a sheet of hammered tin under the floodlights. Clarke skated back through the neutral zone, stick dragging, breath fogging in the air, and the opposing winger tried to take a shortcut. Clarke didn't slow down. He didn't even look up. He just kept skating, kept that low, ugly, relentless stride, and the winger gave up and went around the blue line. Clarke never broke pace. He never once broke pace. And somewhere in the crowd, a kid in a faded 18 jersey understood, for the first time, what the word 'two-way' actually meant. It wasn't a stat line. It was a refusal to let the other team be comfortable for even one shift.

Reader's Guide

There has been only one instance in which a Selke Trophy winner was also awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player when Sergei Fedorov captured both trophies during the 1993–94 NHL season. There has not been an instance in which the Art Ross Trophy winner has been awarded the Selke Trophy, though Fedorov finished second in regular season scoring in 1994, while Hart Trophy winner and Art Ross Trophy runner-up Joe Sakic finished second in Selke voting in 2001. The most points scored in a Selke-winning season is 127 by Doug Gilmour in the 1992–93 NHL season.

Did You Know?

• The Selke Trophy was first awarded at the end of the 1977–78 NHL season.
• Patrice Bergeron has won the Selke Trophy six times, more than any other player.
• Sergei Fedorov is the only player to win both the Selke Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy in the same season (1993–94).
• Doug Gilmour scored 127 points in his Selke-winning season, the most of any winner.