<p>Death, taxes and Aleksander Barkov winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/06/02/mailbag-how-can-edmonton-oilers-beat-florida-panthers-stanley-cup-final-rematch/">Florida Panthers&#8217;</a> No. 1 centre added his third <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/11/14/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitls-game-is-evolving-from-offensive-dynamo-to-selke-trophy-candidate/">Selke Trophy</a> to his shelves after another strong season. He&#8217;s not the only Florida player to appear near the top of the list this year, as teammate Sam Reinhart finished second in voting, while Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli finished third in voting. New Jersey Devils centre Nico Hischier, fourth, and Vegas Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel, fifth, rounded out the top five.</p>
<p>But Edmonton Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl finished higher than ever in the Selke voting ranks, winding up sixth on the list. He secured a first-place vote for the first time in his career, and was second on 18 of the 191 ballots submitted by Professional Hockey Writers Association voters.</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">leon draisaitl finishes sixth on the selke trophy voting list, finding his way onto 52 of 191 ballots and earning a first place vote for the first time. this, despite spending no time on the penalty kill this season, as all five players above him averaged &gt;1:30 per game there. <a href="https://t.co/loyxtHrNss">pic.twitter.com/loyxtHrNss</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1929576296100581805?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Draisaitl had an excellent season in terms of his defensive play, posting career-high marks in many defensive metrics at five-on-five per hour rates, including shot attempts against (50.4), high-danger scoring chances against (9.74), and high-danger goals against (1.07). Other metrics, such as goals against (2.28), expected goals against (2.35), and scoring chances against (24.76), were his second-best marks of his career.</p>
<p>Where Draisaitl likely lost some love from voters was due to the fact that he didn&#8217;t spend time on the penalty kill this season after averaging 58 minutes per season over the last three years. The fact that he finished sixth in the voting, despite that, is impressive, as while Barkov averaged 1:30 in penalty kill time per game this season, all the other names in the top five averaged over two minutes there.</p>
<p>Beyond the first and second place votes he received, Draisaitl received 11 votes each as the third, fourth and fifth on ballots. It&#8217;s a testament to how much he has worked on his defensive side of his game, something that Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-selke-trophy-almost-more-important-than-other-individual-awards">said this year was underrated</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>“I can’t see why he wouldn’t,” he said in March when asked about Draisaitl being in the Hart Trophy race. “He’s been doing it all. Not only the Hart Trophy, but the Selke Trophy — the defensive plays he makes every single night.</p>
<p>“You look at the first period, the back check. He stripped a player of the puck, they go counter, and I believe he set up Perry for a Grade A scoring chance in the slot. He’s been making those plays all season. You look at the goals he’s getting, the primary assists he’s setting up, you often overlook the defensive plays he’s making, but every single night he’s making plays like that.”</p></blockquote>
<p>In April, Draisaitl himself spoke about how <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-selke-trophy-almost-more-important-than-other-individual-awards">important winning a Selke Trophy</a> would be, highlighting how he feels it&#8217;s &#8220;almost more important&#8221; than any other individual award.</p>
<blockquote><p>“That would be almost more important than any other (individual) trophy at this point in time,” he said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of chatter about when we were younger that we can’t defend. And the reason we don’t win is because Connor and I can’t defend or don’t defend. And I think we’ve really changed that narrative around the league and especially the last couple of years.</p>
<p>“We’re both really, really good defenders when we want to be. I think it’s just the consistency part of doing it every night. And I think I’ve done that for the most part this year.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Draisaitl&#8217;s sixth-place finish is the highest he&#8217;s had in Selke voting, previously being <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2021/06/19/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-places-13th-in-selke-voting/">13th on the ballot</a> after the 2020-21 season, and 33rd in the 2019-20 season.</p>
<h2>READ MORE</h2>
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<hr />
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.</span></i></p>
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Death, taxes and Aleksander Barkov winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy.



The <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2025/06/02/mailbag-how-can-edmonton-oilers-beat-florida-panthers-stanley-cup-final-rematch/">Florida Panthers'</a> No. 1 centre added his third <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/11/14/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitls-game-is-evolving-from-offensive-dynamo-to-selke-trophy-candidate/">Selke Trophy</a> to his shelves after another strong season. He's not the only Florida player to appear near the top of the list this year, as teammate Sam Reinhart finished second in voting, while Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli finished third in voting. New Jersey Devils centre Nico Hischier, fourth, and Vegas Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel, fifth, rounded out the top five.

But Edmonton Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl finished higher than ever in the Selke voting ranks, winding up sixth on the list. He secured a first-place vote for the first time in his career, and was second on 18 of the 191 ballots submitted by Professional Hockey Writers Association voters.
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https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1929576296100581805

Draisaitl had an excellent season in terms of his defensive play, posting career-high marks in many defensive metrics at five-on-five per hour rates, including shot attempts against (50.4), high-danger scoring chances against (9.74), and high-danger goals against (1.07). Other metrics, such as goals against (2.28), expected goals against (2.35), and scoring chances against (24.76), were his second-best marks of his career.

Where Draisaitl likely lost some love from voters was due to the fact that he didn't spend time on the penalty kill this season after averaging 58 minutes per season over the last three years. The fact that he finished sixth in the voting, despite that, is impressive, as while Barkov averaged 1:30 in penalty kill time per game this season, all the other names in the top five averaged over two minutes there.

Beyond the first and second place votes he received, Draisaitl received 11 votes each as the third, fourth and fifth on ballots. It's a testament to how much he has worked on his defensive side of his game, something that Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-selke-trophy-almost-more-important-than-other-individual-awards">said this year was underrated</a>.
<blockquote>“I can’t see why he wouldn’t,” he said in March when asked about Draisaitl being in the Hart Trophy race. “He’s been doing it all. Not only the Hart Trophy, but the Selke Trophy — the defensive plays he makes every single night.

“You look at the first period, the back check. He stripped a player of the puck, they go counter, and I believe he set up Perry for a Grade A scoring chance in the slot. He’s been making those plays all season. You look at the goals he’s getting, the primary assists he’s setting up, you often overlook the defensive plays he’s making, but every single night he’s making plays like that.”</blockquote>
In April, Draisaitl himself spoke about how <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-selke-trophy-almost-more-important-than-other-individual-awards">important winning a Selke Trophy</a> would be, highlighting how he feels it's "almost more important" than any other individual award.
<blockquote>“That would be almost more important than any other (individual) trophy at this point in time,” he said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of chatter about when we were younger that we can’t defend. And the reason we don’t win is because Connor and I can’t defend or don’t defend. And I think we’ve really changed that narrative around the league and especially the last couple of years.

“We’re both really, really good defenders when we want to be. I think it’s just the consistency part of doing it every night. And I think I’ve done that for the most part this year.”</blockquote>
Draisaitl's sixth-place finish is the highest he's had in Selke voting, previously being <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2021/06/19/edmonton-oilers-leon-draisaitl-places-13th-in-selke-voting/">13th on the ballot</a> after the 2020-21 season, and 33rd in the 2019-20 season.
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<div class="pb-2"><a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/edmonton-oilers-counter-florida-panthers-offensive-threats"><span class="text-3xl font-bold"><strong>How the Oilers can counter the deep offensive threats from the Panthers</strong></span></a></div></li>
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<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at</span></i> <em><a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a></em><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>,</em> or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.</span></i>

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