Selke Trophy Nominees Announced, Is It Datsyuk's to Lose?

If Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk is going to claim his second straight Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward, he's going to have to overcome two excellent players in Philadelphia's Mike Richards and Vancouver's Ryan Kesler.

Regarded as one of the top defensive players in the game, Datsyuk finished second with 89 takeaways, trailing only Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who finished with 94. It's the first time in two years that Datsyuk has not led the league in that category, while he was also credited with 33 blocked shots and won over 56 percent of his faceoffs.

Aside from his ability to swipe the puck from unsuspecting opponents and play a dominating puck possession game, he's also not afraid to make his presence felt physically, as seen in this video as he dishes out a crushing hit on Chicago's Brian Campbell:

Datsyuk is the fourth different Red Wing to have won the award, joining Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Kris Draper. If he takes it home this year, he'll join Fedorov as the only Detroit players to win it twice.

Richards is the most dangerous penalty killer in the NHL, leading the league with seven shorthanded goals this season, including his record-setting third career goal scored in a 3-on-5 situation.

During the first four years of his career, the Flyers' 24-year-old captain has already tallied 19 shorthanded goals, and registers more penalty killing time than any player on the team. He was tied for the league-lead among forwards with 90 blocked shots while also tallying 83 takeaways.

One of the more underrated players in the NHL, Kesler had a career-year with the Canucks tallying 26 goals and 59 points to compliment his always rock-solid defensive game. During the regular season he was credited with 74 takeaways while only being charged with 30 giveaways (by comparison, Datsyuk was charged with 50 giveaways while Richards was credited with 94).

He won 54 percent of his faceoffs and blocked 70 shots for a Canucks team that is coming off a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.

All three of these players are worthy recipients, but I think Datsyuk is going to take it for the second year in a row. His reputation as a shutdown center is well known around the league, and I think that carries him to the award once again.

The winner will be announced at the NHL awards show in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 18, 2009. On Wednesday, the NHL will announce the finalists for Hart Trophy as the league MVP.