Frank J. Selke Trophy

The Frank J. Selke Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association following the regular season.

The trophy is named in honour of Frank J. Selke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. It was the fourth 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 are the Art Ross Trophy, James Norris Trophy, and the Conn Smythe Trophy, while some also say that the Jack Adams Award belongs to that group).

It was first awarded in 1977. It has been most won by Montreal Canadiens, shared by Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau, on 7 occasions; next-most represented are the Detroit Red Wings, with 4 winners, shared in this respect by Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper, and the Dallas Stars with Jere Lehtinen winning three Selkes.

There has been only one instance in which a Selke Trophy winner was also awarded the Hart Trophy. This was accomplished by Sergei Fedorov for the 1993-94 NHL season, who was also the first European to win the award. There has not been an instance in which the Art Ross Trophy winner has been awarded the Selke Trophy, though Federov finished second in regular season scoring in 1994, while Art Ross Trophy runner-up Joe Sakic finished second in Selke voting in 2001. The Selke winner with the highest number of points in a trophy winning season is Doug Gilmour, with 127 points in 1992-93, followed by Federov with 120.