Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews Named a Selke Finalist

Hours after his Blackhawks were eliminated from the postseason, Chicago captain Jonathan Toews was named a finalist for the Selke Trophy (given to the league’s best defensive forward).

Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler and Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk were the other two finalists.

Toews finished the regular season tied for 11th in the NHL with 76 points (32 goals, 44 assists), and his plus-25 rating ranked 16th in the league.

“Captain Serious” won 56.7 percent of his faceoffs this year, including an astounding 56.9 percent of his short-handed opportunities at the dot. Toews also finished the year with the second-highest number of takeaways (90) by a forward, behind San Jose’s Joe Thornton.

He also averaged the second-highest number of shifts per game (27.4) behind only Carolina’s Eric Staal (27.5), and also ranked second behind Staal (1,751) in total number of faceoffs taken during the regular season (1,653).