It’s another day which means it’s another finalist announcement for individual player awards for the 2023-24 season. Saturday, May 4 saw the finalists of the Lady Byng Trophy with Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes receiving the distinction. On Sunday, May 5, the finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy were announced. The Selke Trophy is annually awarded to the forward voted best to excel in the defensive aspects of the game and is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The award will be given at a later date. Just like the Lady Byng for Slavin, the Hurricanes have another player who has been named a finalist for the Selke Trophy. It is long overdue but it has come time for the team’s captain Jordan Staal to get the recognition he deserves.
Welcome Aboard Captain Staal
Staal, the 35-year-old Thunder Bay, ON native, has been named a Selke Trophy finalist for the second time in his career. The first time he was named a finalist was in 2009-10 when he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He finished that season third-place in voting losing out to Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings. Staal had 528 votes with 24 of them being first-place votes and 21 third-place ones. He finished 120 short of Datsyuk who had 31 first-place votes.
Fast forward to the 2023-24 season, Staal is the second Hurricanes player to be named as a finalist for the Selke Trophy. The last player in the franchise to be named was Rod Brind’Amour who won it back in the 2006-07 season (also won it back in the 2005-06 season as well). He is going up against Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov who were also named finalists.
Related: Hurricanes Re-Sign Jordan Staal to 4-Year Deal
For the 2023-24 season, Staal tallied 10 goals and 30 points in 80 games. In his career with the Hurricanes, he has accumulated 165 goals, 262 assists, and 427 points in 822 career games. Since joining the team by way of a trade before the 2012-13 season, he ranks fourth in franchise history in games played, sixth in points, and seventh in assists. He has been the captain of Carolina since 2019 and has been the centerpiece of the leadership core since then along with Slavin.
When asked about Staal being named a finalist, the former Hurricanes Selke Trophy winner and now head coach Brind’Amour stated, “I’m happy for him to get a little recognition for the…
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