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NHL Awards: Sean Couturier, Patrice Bergeron In Selke Trophy Battle

By Dave Stevenson

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 18: Sean Couturier #14 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks on prior to a face-off against the Los Angeles Kings on December 18, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 18: Sean Couturier #14 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks on prior to a face-off against the Los Angeles Kings on December 18, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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As we look at the NHL Awards, Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier and Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron are in the midst of a close Selke Trophy battle

Each year, the Selke Trophy is given to the best defensive forward in the NHL. Recent winners have included Jonathan Toews and Anze Kopitar. However, Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has rightfully been the gold standard. He only needs one more award to set the record for most Selke Trophies, passing Montreal Canadiens legend Bob Gainey. The Selke isn’t taken as seriously as other NHL Awards, but it’s an important one.

However, this season, Bergeron has very tough competition in the form of Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier. The latter might be the former’s heir apparent. It’s worth noting Couturier plays regularly with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. But considering the incredibly tough minutes that top line faces, he’s still deserving of the award.

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Offense shouldn’t matter for a defensive award. But let’s be honest, it does. And to be fair, the best defensive players are usually the ones who don’t play too much defense because they’re constantly on offense. Bergeron and Couturier have extremely similar stats. The former has more even strength points per hour but the latter has more primary points per hour.

Even Strength Defense

The Selke is a defensive award, so let’s get started on comparing Couturier and Bergeron defensively. All of these stats are publicly available thanks to Corsica. Check out the site, and if you like it, you can donate to help their finances here. Here’s a quick glossary of the stats we’ll be referencing.

  • 5v5 CA/60 – 5v5 Corsi Against per hour
  • 5v5 xGA/60 – 5v5 expected goals against per hour
  • 5v5 RelT CA/60 – 5v5 Teammate-relative Corsi Against per hour
  • 5v5 RelT xGA/60 – 5v5 Teammate-relative expected goals against per hour

We’ll be looking at both relative and regular stats because Bergeron has an unfair disadvantage. The Bruins are a stellar possession team while the Flyers aren’t. So obviously Bergeron’s numbers relative to his teammates aren’t going to look as great as Couturier’s relative to his. Please note, the lower the number, the better. And negative is usually not good, but in the case of these stats, you want to be negative.

As you can see, Couturier is better than Bergeron. Granted, the latter is going to get reputation votes for the Selke Trophy. And if anyone deserves reputation votes, it’s Bergeron. But objectively, Couturier gets the nod as far as even strength defense.

Penalty Killing

The best defensive centers play during all situations and are expected to kill penalties. Couturier and Bergeron have each spent over an hour shorthanded this season. However, Bergeron has the edge. Couturier, though, is no slouch. And is arguably the Flyers’ most efficient penalty killer.

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Verdict

This is a very close race. I’d give the ever so slight edge to Couturier, but if Bergeron wins, he deserves it. It’s hard to evaluate how good someone is defensively. So it’s at least understandable why Bergeron is going to be very hard to unseat from the Selke Trophy throne. But if anyone can knock him off, it’s Couturier.

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