At the NHL awards ceremony in Las Vegas, no one was surprised to see Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk defeat Flyers’ forward Mike Richards to take home his second consecutive Frank J. Selke trophy for the league’s best defensive forward. But as the voting numbers were counted, it turns out Mike had more support than expected.
According to the Flyers’ official site, Datsyuk defeated Richards 945-942. It was the closest vote since 1978, when the award began being issued.
Datsyuk was second in the league in takeaways with 89 and a plus/minus of +34, while Richards’ campaign for the award stood on his league leading seven shorthanded goals, with a plus/minus of +22.
Phila.Bright 