[Pavel] Datsyuk is a finalist for the Selke Award, along with Philadelphia Flyers center Mike Richards and Vancouver Canucks center/right winger Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks. All three have excellent credentials and define the concept "hard to play against."

Kesler and Richards leave opponents bruised and battered, while Datsyuk leaves them feeling they've had their pocket picked. All three are team leaders. Richards is captain of the Flyers, while Datsyuk and Kesler are alternate captains.

What a complete joke.

Here is James Mirtle's take on the Selke trophy finalists-

Last year, Koivu was injured, so that took him outta the running a bit. This time, the Wild didn’t have a very solid season at all.

Still, I’ve been talking about him forever, but he never gets much credit.

Shocking, Minnesota has a crappy season, so our players get screwed. I'm bored with it.

If you take a look at the defensive stats, as Mirtle did earlier in April,you see that Antti Miettinen is atop the charts, with Mikko right behind him, but as Mirtle stated

Miettinen shouldn't win the Selke because he's picking up a lot of his minutes alongside Koivu, who's really the defensive powerhouse on the line