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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our midseason choices for the Selke.

Todd Cordell

Let me preface this by saying my choice will almost certainly not win. Voters love points even though the award should go to the forward who exhibits the most defensive prowess. If we’re actually going by the letter of the law my choice is Zach Aston-Reese. Few, if any, have matched the defensive impact he has made on his team.

ZAR starts a crazy amount of shifts in the defensive zone and yet the Pens give up absolutely *nothing* when he is on the ice.

At 5v5, opposing teams are generating just 17.77 scoring chances and 1.51 expected goals per 60 minutes vs Aston-Reese. Of the 279 forwards with 400+ minutes of ice in that gamestate, none have fared better than ZAR in either category. He’s a beast.

Unfortunately, he’s on pace for ~20 points so he probably won’t even finish top-10 in voting.

If pressed for a choice with a realistic shot at winning, I’ll go with Mark Stone. His two-way impact is once again very strong and more people will take notice of him playing on a potential division winner as opposed to a rebuilding Ottawa team.

James Tanner

I think you could make a good case for Mark Stone and Evgeni Malkin for the Selke this year, as both are completely dominant and rocking near 60% expected goals, but my choice would Teuvo Teravainen. He leads the NHL with a 60% CF, 60% of the goals, and 56% of the expected goals. He is almost at a point per game and looks good to beat his career high of 76 points. He is the best player in the NHL that no one talks about. Plus, every time you think of him, you are reminded that he and Panarin - two of the top ten forwards in the NHL right now - were traded for a second, a third, a fifth and Brandon Saad. How Stan Bowman maintains employment is something Peter Chiarelli really wants to find out.

Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com

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