Who is the league's best defensive forward UP TO NOW? (not who you think it will be at season's end)
Crosby as an option doesn't even kill penalties
Bergeron has missed to many games to win this award 26 games at the halfway point would be 52 in a full season.
I like Barokov but that minus 11 will scare voters off, rightly or wrongly, so I went with Mark Stone.
He's missed 16 games, not 26. So 68 games played if he misses no more games, which should be enough to win it provided be finishes with around ~70 points as well.
Barkov I feel can't possibly win, he might finish in the -20s by the way the Panthers are playing. Even being -1 is enough to scare most voters off.