Given that it's more of a 2-way forward award rather than a defensive forward one, I'd say it has to be Kopitar. He can play tough defensive minutes against other teams' top players and still produce ES on/off ice numbers like this:
On ice:
GF/60: 3.14
GA/60: 1.39
+/-: +1.74
Off ice:
GF/60: 1.71
GA/60: 1.80
+/-: -0.09
Pretty amazing that LA had a negative goal differential this year at even strength when Kopitar was on the bench. And that's not an anomaly either, as the numbers hold up whether you go back over the last 3-5 years. Just goes to show how important of a player he is for that team.
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