Nico Hischer - Selke Trophy
Nico Hischier was second in Selke Trophy voting a year ago. Last year, he finished 19th in Selke Trophy voting. Jesper Bratt also received a Selke vote. Both were nowhere near the top.
However, as we saw with Aleksander Barkov last season, one a player is in the Selke Trophy conversation, they have a hard time leaving the conversation. When Barkov won the award in 2021, he stayed in the convo despite falling to eighth in 2023. Hischier fell further in 2024, but he's still getting some residual votes despite the Devils season going to hell.
Hischier has been considered the Devils top-line center. The Devils likely will end up with one of Jesper Bratt or Timo Meier on his line. That will allow Hischier to get back to his 70+ point ways.
We all know that the Selke Trophy is a defensive award with offensive implications. While there are always better pure defensive forwards, the players who take home the trophy are often some of the biggest stars in the game. Hischier isn't exactly on that star level of Barkov or Bergeron, but he does enough on the ice to get into the conversation. If he gets back to 80 points, or even to a point per game, then he might just win this trophy.