Written by Todd Cordell, who can be found on twitter @ToddCordell.
Every year it seems the same handful of players are in the running for the Selke Trophy, and this season things are no different with the usual suspects once again leading the pack.
Let’s take a look at my top-5 candidates (numbers via War-On-Ice.com and stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):
Patrice Bergeron
The Bruins may not have qualified for the playoffs this year, but that certainly isn’t on Patrice Bergeron.
While playing against the opposition’s best players on a nightly basis, Bergeron drove possession at an absurd rate – he had a 58 Corsi For percentage at 5 v 5 as opposed to Boston’s 49 Corsi For percentage without him – and recorded 55 points in the process.
His 1.95 points/60 minutes of 5 v 5 play put him ahead of the likes of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan Johansen and Alexander Ovechkin to name a few, so he not only held his own playing very tough minutes, but he excelled.
Oh, and the 12 Bruins Bergeron played at least 100 5 vs 5 minutes with this season posted better possession numbers with him than without him, so he made a positive impact – more often than not a significant one – on everybody.
Pavel Datsyuk
Pavel Datsyuk is getting up there in age – he turns 37 in July – but you wouldn’t know it from his play.
Datsyuk posted an outstanding Corsi Relative% of over 8, meaning the Red Wings were a much better possession team with him on the ice than without.
That reflected in the goal totals, too, as the Red Wings scored 55.6% of the goals at full strength with him on the ice, whereas they scored 49.2% without him.
He didn’t just drive possession, though, as he also recorded an impressive 65 points in 63 games, and tallied 2.01 points/60 minutes of full strength time.
Datsyuk was outstanding in all aspects of the game this season, and is as good of a Selke candidate as any.
Anze Kopitar
For the fourth consecutive season Anze Kopitar was able to post a Corsi Relative% of 5 or more, which is no easy task considering the Kings were the best possession team in the NHL this season.
As was the case with Bergeron, Kopitar improved the possession numbers of every single player he saw more than 100 minutes of ice with.
The Kings struggled to score at times, but Kopitar still managed to tally 64 points and finish among the league leaders in assists – he ranked 9th in that category – while averaging a respectable 1.83 points/60.
Jonathan Toews
Jonathan Toews started more shifts in the offensive zone than many of these candidates, but he by no means played soft minutes, and did very well regardless of what metric you look at.
The Blackhawks generated a larger portion of the shot attempts with him on the ice than without, and he averaged 2.15 points/60 despite going up against the opposition’s best on a regular basis.
I don’t think he’s a front runner for the Selke, but he certainly put himself in the conversation.
Joe Thornton
Does Joe Thornton know he is 35 years old? I’m guessing he doesn’t.
It was a very disappointing year for the San Jose Sharks, but that’s not because of Thornton.
As usual Thornton put up big point totals – he had 65 points and finished 7th in the NHL in assists – and he was dominant at even-strength regardless of who he was up against.
Thornton posted the league’s best Corsi Relative% at 9.67, with the Sharks generating 58% of the shot attempts with him on the ice, while that number dropped to less than 49% when he was on the bench.
It’s crazy that the Sharks want to push this guy out of the organization, because he’s still the best player on the team.
Comparisons
My Ballot
1. Pavel Datsyuk – Detroit
2. Patrice Bergeron – Boston
3. Joe Thornton – San Jose
4. Jonathan Toews – Chicago
5. Anze Kopitar – Los Angeles
Patrice Bergeron
Pavel Datsyuk
Anze Kopitar
Joe Thornton
Jonathan Toews