NEW YORK - Montreal's Nick Suzuki, Tampa Bay's Anthony Cirelli and Colorado's Brock Nelson are the finalists for this season's Frank J. Selke Trophy, the NHL announced Wednesday.

The award is given annually to the league's top defensive forward as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Suzuki, the Canadiens' captain, led the team with a career-best 101 points in 82 games while winning 50.4 per cent of 1,449 faceoffs and averaging 20:49 of ice time. 

Cirelli recorded 52 points and a career-best plus-38 rating in 71 games for the Lightning, winning 48.2 per cent of 1,075 faceoffs and leading Lightning forwards in short-handed minutes.

Women’s professional hockey is coming to Hockeytown, with the PWHL on Wednesday designating Detroit as the first of what could become four expansion markets for next season.

Detroit’s selection is the result of the tight relationship the PWHL has with the city’s Ilitch family, whose holdings include the Red Wings. And it reflects the success the league has enjoyed in playing four neutral-site games at the NHL team’s home.

“I think from the get-go, we have really felt the passion that this city and state have for hockey and the PWHL,” executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer told The Associated Press. “I think it’s the perfect place for us to grow.”

Detroit hosted the PWHL’s first neutral-site game during its inaugural season in 2024, which Scheer credited for inspiring the league launching its multicity “Takeover Tour” the past two years. The four games at Little Caesars Arena, which will serve as the team’s home, attracted a combined attendance of 53,626, including 15,938 in March in the PWHL’s first game broadcast to a U.S. national TV audience.