It's a little later than usual thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but the annual "Patrice Bergeron is a Selke Trophy finalist" announcement came Monday.
This marks the ninth straight year the Bruins center has been one of the three finalists for the Selke, which is awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Bergeron is looking for a record-setting fifth win.
The other finalists are St. Louis Blues center Ryan O'Reilly, who won the award last year, and Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier, who has never won it.
"It's always a great recognition," Bergeron said of being a finalist. "Obviously you have to also realize, keep in mind it is a team sport, and I wouldn't be here without all my teammates. So it's the same thing every year. It's just one of those things where you can't accomplish that on your own. I've been fortunate enough to play on great teams, great lines, and been coached by great coaches. That's helped me tremendously over the years.
"It's a great honor. It's something I've always been very proud of," Bergeron added. "I've put a lot of emphasis on my two-way game and the defensive part of my game, even from my early days and my junior days. It's nice to get recognized. I'm proud of that, that's for sure."
Nine. Straight. Seasons. Congrats to Patrice Bergeron on once again being named a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy! --: https://t.co/kObS937c8t pic.twitter.com/90LfNJ0PuG
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins)
July 20, 2020 Here is how we broke down the Selke race last month when analyzing the Bruins' award chances, concluding that Bergeron should in fact be in line for that fifth win:
The case for Bergeron: You really could rename this the Bergeron Award. He’s won it four times and he’s been one of the three finalists each of the last eight seasons. This should be a ninth straight, as Bergeron once again rates highly in pretty much every metric we have to measure a forward’s defense. Among forwards who played at least 600 minutes at 5-on-5 this season, Bergeron ranks eighth in Corsi-for percentage, 13th in Corsi against per 60, ninth in shots against per 60, and 15th in expected goals against per 60. Among centers who took at least 900 draws, he ranks fourth in faceoff percentage at 57.9%. If you consider the other favorites to be Blues center Ryan O’Reilly (the reigning Selke winner), Flyers center Sean Couturier, Lightning center Anthony Cirelli and Golden Knights winger Mark Stone, as most people seem to, well Bergeron beats all four of them in most of the metrics above (Stone narrowly edges him in Corsi-for percentage, O’Reilly and Couturier top him in Corsi against per 60, and Couturier also takes faceoff percentage). Add in his superb penalty-killing and it’s yet another very strong Selke resume for Bergeron.
The case for the field: There’s an interesting discussion around the Selke about big-name, top-line players like Bergeron, O’Reilly, Couturier and Stone vs. middle-six or bottom-six forwards who rate very highly in advanced defensive metrics like the Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin, the Penguins’ Zach Aston-Reese and the Devils’ Blake Coleman, who all rank in the top five in Evolving-Hockey’s total defense rating, which combines even-strength defense goals above average and shorthanded defense goals above average. Cirelli kind of falls somewhere between those two, but seems to be building enough momentum and name recognition to be at the big boys table. You have to scroll down a bit to get to the heavyweights in that total defense metric, as Bergeron ranks 27th, Cirelli 32nd, Stone 44th, O’Reilly 50th and Couturier way down at 201st.
So, the case for the field is two-fold. One is the case for the other big names. O’Reilly won it last year and had another terrific defensive season, so a repeat win could be completely justified. Couturier and Stone have been elite defensive forwards for years but neither has ever won the Selke, so there could be a push to get one of them their first. Cirelli could be a trendy pick for those who want to be first on the bandwagon for the next great defensive center. Then there’s the case that it’s time to shift this award away from big names, embrace the analytics, and give it to someone like Nichushkin, Aston-Reese or Coleman who is easy to overlook because they don’t play as many minutes or score as many points.
Our pick: Patrice Bergeron. Make it a record-setting fifth win. I think the advanced metrics are valuable and informative, but I’m not quite ready to embrace the defensive ones as the end-all, be-all when it comes to determining the Selke winner. Bergeron is still the complete package who rates highly in both traditional and advanced stats while playing top minutes against top competition. And
as this excellent Sportsnet article lays out, there is still no one better at turning a defensive shift into an offensive one.
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