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The NHL has started announcing the nominees for its various awards and the Selke Trophy nominees include a very familiar face in Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk. His competition will be David Backes from the St. Louis Blues and Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins.
The Selke is awarded annually to the forward in the NHL that 'best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.' Datsyuk has always been great with faceoffs and takeaways while still scoring lots of points for the Wings, which is why he is a perennial contender for the award.
Datsyuk won the Selke three years in a row between 2008 and 2010, but his winning streak was snapped by Vancouver's Ryan Kessler last season. If Datsyuk wins the award again in 2012 he will tie with Montreal Canadiens legend Bob Gainey with four Selkes, the most all time.
For more on Datsyuk and the Detroit Red Wings, head over to Winging It In Motown. More on the NHL in general as the playoffs continue, head over to the SB Nation NHL hub at sbnation.com/NHL.