MONTREAL (AP) \u2014 Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki has won the Frank J. Selke Trophy given to the NHL\u2019s top defensive forward while teammate Cole Caufield was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suzuki, the first choice on 151 of the 198 ballots cast by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the honor announced Friday, posted a career-high 101 points in 2025-26, and the Canadiens outscored their opponents 94-58 at even strength when Suzuki was on the ice. Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli finished second followed by Colorado center Brock Nelson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t happen without him and his leadership every day,\u201d Caufield said of Suzuki, the Canadiens\u2019 top center. \u201cThere\u2019s so many things that he does that help the team as a whole. We really follow his lead. It\u2019s very well-deserved, but I think the guys in the room will tell you maybe not expected, but it\u2019s something that we all knew he has in him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caufield was the Canadiens\u2019 first 50-goal scorer in 36 years with 51, and was assessed just seven minor penalties. Newly retired Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar, a three-time Lady Byng winner, was second in voting, followed by Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpecial to give Cole his award and all the effort that he put in this season and what he\u2019s done for our team,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cThe enthusiasm every morning that we all need on some tough mornings. It was cool to share that experience with him. We\u2019ve been through a lot together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suzuki and Caulfield were tasked with presenting the other with their award and said they had no idea they themselves were winners until they were surprised last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt got both of us,\u201d Suzuki said on a video conference call of\u00a0the award ruse\u00a0on May 11 that was kept secret for 3 1\/2 weeks. \u201cWe just thought we were both presenting. It was a great job by everyone to keep that on the down low.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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MONTREAL (AP) \u2014 Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki has won the Frank J. Selke Trophy given to the NHL\u2019s top defensive forward while teammate Cole Caufield was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and skill. Suzuki, the first choice on 151 of the 198 ballots cast by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410334,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410333\/revisions\/410334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}