Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki was the runaway winner for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL's best two-way forward, the league announced Friday.
Suzuki wasn't the only Canadiens player who won an individual award, as star winger Cole Caufield captured the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that's given "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conducted combined with a high standard of playing ability."
Both the Lady Byng and the Selke were voted upon by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Suzuki, with 151 first-place votes on the 198 ballots, joins Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainey as the third player in franchise history to win the Selke. Suzuki was a top-five vote-getter on 191 ballots.
Suzuki, 26, emerging as the NHL's premier two-way forward in the 2025-26 season is a result of a process years in the making. His two-way ability started gaining more leaguewide attention during 2023-24 when he finished 13th in voting. He would finish 13th again in 2024-25 with his performances helping the young Canadiens advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2020-21.
This season, Suzuki was among the best players regardless of position.
He scored 29 goals and amassed 72 assists for his first season of more than 100 points. Reaching the century mark coupled with the fact Suzuki was charged with constantly shadowing an opposing team's top line saw his profile surge to the point that he was also named to the Canadian men's national team at the Olympics, where he helped the squad win silver.
Caufield initially was brought to the Canadiens' locker room under the guise that he was going to present Suzuki with the Selke Trophy. And he did. That's when he learned that Suzuki was under the impression that he was going there to present Caufield with the Lady Byng without knowing about the Selke win.
Caufield, 25, became the third Canadiens player to win the Lady Byng, joining Mats Naslund and Toe Blake. Caufield, who finished with 51 goals and 88 points, logged more than 18 minutes per game while playing in 81 of his team's 82 games in a season that also saw him record just 14 penalty minutes.
Caufield had a closer margin when it came to the Lady Byng. He received 45 first-place votes while Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who has won the award three times, finished second. Kopitar had 38 first-place votes in his final season. He retired after the Kings were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson finished third with 28 first-place votes.
