Aleksander Barkov Wins Second Consecutive Selke Award, Is He Being Slept On?

It's official, Aleksander "Sasha" Barkov was named the 2025 Frank J. Selke Award winner for the second consecutive season.

Barkov is now a three-time recipient of the award, putting him in some rather heady company at just 29 years old.

Only five other players have won the Selke three or more times in their careers, three of which are immortalized in the Hockey Hall of Fame, with former Bruins center Patrice Bergeron sure to be the fourth once he is eligible.

When you modify the criteria a bit, the list narrows even further.

Aside from Barkov, only three others in the history of the NHL have won back-to-back Selke's: Rod Brind'Amour, Pavel Datsyuk, and the aforementioned Bergeron.

Heard of 'em?

With all these credentials being next to Barkov's name before the Finnish forward reaches his 30th birthday, it begs the question: why aren't more people talking about Barkov as a top player in the league?

To be fair, it has gotten a lot better for Barkov.

With three Selke's, a Lady Byng, and (most importantly) a Stanley Cup on his mantle, it has been hard to ignore how great of a player the Panthers' captain has been for a large part of his career.

The fact that he plays in Sunrise, FL, certainly doesn't help his cause, but in today's day and age of social media and highlight proliferation, that shouldn't matter.

Barkov plays a very defensive-oriented, 200 ft game, which doesn't have the same flash and sizzle of an Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid, but it's difficult to argue he isn't every bit of the player those two are when discussing the totality of their play.

Case in point:

Doing THAT in a Conference Finals elimination game is some wild stuff, but the man has been tormenting teams with disgusting moves in the playoffs for years now.

Take into account all that offensive prowess on display on top of the fact that Barkov usually draws the opposing teams' best offensive player as his defensive assignment, and it's clear he is one of the most complete players in the league.

One of his biggest champions has been former teammate and current Spittin' Chiclets co-host, Keith Yandle, who claims Barkov is the second-best player in the league, behind only Connor McDavid.

Yandle recently broke down what makes Barkov so special on a recent episode of The Energy Line with Nate and JSB, even predicting his insane game-winning assist to Carter Verhaeghe in Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The rest of the hockey world is slowly coming around to how amazing Sasha Barkov has been for the Panthers, and as a Florida native and avid Cats fan, it's been beautiful to see.

Just put some more respect on the man's name moving forward, please!