How Nick Suzuki Earned the NHL’s Ultimate Two-Way Honour
All season long, the conversation kept circling back to the same idea in Montreal: if the Selke Trophy is supposed to reward complete forwards, then what exactly more did Nick Suzuki have to do?
On Friday, the NHL answered that question officially. Nick Suzuki was named the winner of the Selke Trophy in a decisive vote, recognizing him as the league’s best defensive forward — though in today’s game, that definition has expanded to mean the best true two-way centre in hockey.
Suzuki has been improving defensively over the past several seasons.
For the Montreal Canadiens captain, this wasn’t a sudden breakout. It was the logical endpoint of a slow, steady climb.
Suzuki has spent the last several seasons building toward this moment. Offensively, his game has grown year after year, culminating in a 29-goal, 72-assist campaign while playing all 82 games. That durability alone matters, but it’s the way he did it that stands out: heavy minutes, tough assignments, and constant attention from opposing top lines.
He averaged nearly 21 minutes a night, not because he was sheltered, but because he could be trusted in every situation. Even without a regular penalty-kill role, Suzuki was still the forward Montreal leaned on when the game tightened, the puck mattered most, or a faceoff needed to be won in the defensive zone.
And that brings us to the part of his game that ultimately sealed the award.
Suzuki made his line better every game.
When Suzuki was on the ice at five-on-five, his line outscored opponents 94–58, translating into a 61.8 percent goal share. That’s not just strong — that’s elite territory on a team still finding its identity. It means that when Suzuki played, Montreal didn’t just survive tough matchups; they controlled them.
Then there’s the detail that often gets overlooked: faceoffs. Suzuki took 1,449 draws, ranking sixth in the NHL, and won just over half of them. It’s a skill that shifts possession, dictates zone starts, and sets the tone for entire shifts. Coaches notice it even when fans don’t.
The Selke vote reflected all of it. He finished with 1,726 points, far ahead of Anthony Cirelli and Brock Nelson, and appeared on all but a handful of ballots. In other words, this wasn’t a close call. It was a consensus. Historically, Suzuki now joins a rare line in Montreal history, following past winners like Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau — names that defined defensive responsibility for an entire generation of hockey.
Why did Suzuki deserve the Selke?
Because he didn’t just become a better scorer. He became a driver of play in every direction. And in a league where offence is easy to measure, Suzuki made the harder case: that preventing goals, controlling tempo, and carrying responsibility night after night still matters just as much.
In the end, that’s what the Selke Trophy is supposed to reward. And this time, it got it right.