Doesn’t look like the Pens captain will be winning one trophy anytime soon
Sidney Crosby has won just about everything there is in hockey to win, but there’s one item that is becoming more elusive for him (even if he’s not necessarily going out of his way intending to win it).
Crosby once finished in the top-10 in voting for the Selke trophy four straight years from 2016-19. He ended up only getting one fourth place vote in the award for the best defensive forward this season. Florida’s Aleksander Barkov would win the award for the second straight season.
Full voting results for the Selke Trophy, won by Aleksander Barkov. #TimeToHunt #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/z6BIjfTxqa
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 2, 2025
Crosby finished in ninth place last year, which sounds good enough before realizing that meant only being named on 4.38% of all the voting percentage. Not that close, but he was at least on minds and some ballots. Even that is well higher than basically being forgotten about this season in the voting with only a single tally.
But, really, there’s no room for complaint. While Crosby is known for his insane compete level — one that’s had him named the most complete player in the NHL by his peers for six years running — he doesn’t fit the mold of a Selke winner. Crosby barely kills penalties (this year he played just 5:28 in 80 games, or four seconds a game). His usage is slanted heavily towards offensive zone work. He doesn’t really block shots (38 on the year) and has surprisingly low takeaway stats (29). Crosby’s defensive impact and advanced metrics is typically unimpressive at best (and this year wasn’t a best in that realm).
Sidney Crosby is a lot of things, but by any measure he’s not used as a defensive forward, and nor does he really supply nearly enough to be considered the best in the whole league at it. Which is no slight, there’s no doubt Crosby is all-around and offensively one of the very best players in the league still.
Based on the support Crosby was growing — peaking at receiving 43% voting in 2019 — it seemed a good bet that one day he would gain enough momentum to rally around him for winning a Selke before the end of his career, especially now that 6x winner and 11x finalist Patrice Bergeron stepped aside. Barring a massive change of narratives, usage and spotlight, it doesn’t look like that is going to be the case.
As always, it’s foolish to say never with Crosby (as Ryan Whitney found out on a bet that the Pens’ captain wouldn’t score 50 goals in a season) so who is to say in the next 2-3-4 years that Crosby’s game may morph into being deserving into legit Selke consideration. That day may yet come, but these days his Selke credentials are washing away to almost nothing.