With the regular season coming to an end, it is getting close for the NHL's version of "Awards Season" and one of the trophies that will be handed out is the Frank J. Selke Trophy. This is a trophy given to essentially the best defensive forward in the league that season.
Recently, the award has only gone to two players as Aleksander Barkov won the award this past season and prior to that in the 2020-21 season. In between those two years, Patrice Bergeron with the Boston Bruins would win the trophy.
Who was the last LA Kings player to win the Frank J. Selke Trophy?
Fans don't need to go too far back in time to find the last LA Kings player to win the trophy as that player is still on the roster in Anze Kopitar. He would win the award twice with the first win occuring in the 2015-16 season and then he won it again two seasons later in 2017-18.
Prior to that, Kopitar was certainly in the discussion as he would finish third in 2014-15 and was the runner-up in the 2013-14 season.
It shouldn't be overly surprising, especially based on the responsibilities of the position, that a center has won the award 20 straight seasons. The last wing to win the award was Jere Lehtinen with the Dallas Stars in the 2002-03 season.
While Kopitar's days of winning the award are probably behind him, the LA Kings do have a player that could in the discussion in the coming seasons in Quinton Byfield. The former second-overall pick has certainly elevated his play the past few months with eight goals and 15 assists since the beginning of February.
However, he has also made huge strides defensively and has been used as that shutdown center against the tougher matchups instead of Kopitar or even Philip Danault. He has definitely thrived in that role and it may take until next season for him to get that recognition league-wide to be considered for this trophy.