If you’re a fan of the Florida Panthers, today must be a pretty awesome day for you! The team just took down the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1, in Round 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and now they’re moving on to Round 2 to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. But wait, there’s another reason for Panthers fans to get ready to celebrate! What’s that all about? It turns out that two of their players are up for the Frank J. Selke Trophy!

On X, Jameson Olive shared, “Barkov on being nominated for Selke w/ Reinhart: ‘It’s awesome. It’s not like every year two guys from the same team get nominated for the award. It’s pretty special.’ Reinhart, laughing, on why he should win: ‘Because he’s won enough of them!'” Some might wonder if there’s tension between the two—hardly. Just friendly banter.

Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart have both received nominations for the 2024-25 Frank J. Selke Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s top defensive forward. Barkov responded by highlighting the positives of the award, noting how unusual it is for two players from the same team to be finalists for the Selke simultaneously. It really shows just how strong and united the Florida Panthers have been on defense.

In the meantime, Reinhart playfully argued his case for the win by poking fun at Barkov, who snagged the Selke in both the 2020-21 and 2023-24 seasons. The Panthers captain has been with the team for 12 seasons, while Reinhart has been around for four.

Still, since they both have a similar level of experience in the NHL, it seems like this matchup is going to be pretty close. But you know, even with those defensemen putting in some solid efforts during the playoffs, it seems like their coach had a different player in mind for the MVP.

Bobrovsky has become a central component of the Florida Panthers lineup

Surely the defense of the Panthers was something that everyone was praising? After their Round 1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, coach Paul Maurice named the MVP of the series, saying, “But I think possibly the spotlight should then go back on Sergei Bobrovsky; it doesn’t matter how good you are in the goal if you don’t have a guy in that situation.”

Besides the defense, the Florida Panthers’ offense really shone, too. There was definitely a lot of pressure on the Lightning with players like Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand in the mix. But Maurice wanted to make sure to give a shoutout to their goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky.

In the series, Bobrovsky really stood out with an impressive 4-1 record, boasting a 2.21 GAA and even grabbing a shutout. The goaltender really came through during the series, helping Florida wrap things up against the Lightning in just five games. Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how he does in Round 2!