Name: LeBrun: NHL coaches make their Selke Trophy picks and inside the Calder debate
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LeBrun: NHL coaches make their Selke Trophy picks and inside the Calder debate

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Jun 15, 2020Every year, the Selke Trophy, for my money anyway, requires the most research if you’re going to look at as many layers as possible before making your choices.The award goes “to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.”Last season’s winner, deservedly, was Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues.But the debate right off the bat is how loose with that definition you’re willing to be when you’re voting. My definition of who the best defensive forward in the league might be different than it is for the best two-way forward in the league. And I think what’s happened over the past two decades is that the two-way version has won out over the defensive-only version.And I’m OK with that; I think it reflects the way the game is played today.But for a guy like Philip Danault of the , for example, in many ways a throwback shutdown centre extraordinaire, he might have had a better chance to win the Selke in the ’80s or ’90s because his offensive numbers lag a bit compared to his peers in the Selke conversation. He finished seventh in Selke Trophy voting last season and his 53 points were indeed seventh among those players.In any case, there’s no question the modern day Selke winners are chosen for their acumen at both ends of the ice, not just on the defensive side of the puck.Selected members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association select five candidates on their ballot ranked from 1 through 5.(The deadline for PHWA voters to submit their ballots was Monday. Selected PHWA members, 155 in total plus a panel of 20 broadcasters, vote on the Hart, Norris, Lady Byng and Selke plus the all-star and all-rookie teams).This year, I decided to poll the NHL’s head coaches for their Selke pick. The poll was conducted last week and I got 30 of the 31 head coaches to respond.Again, I asked them for their top Selke pick only; I didn’t want five names. The only stipulation is they couldn’t vote for a player on their own team.The finally tally:, 14, 10Ryan O’Reilly, 3, 2, 1That the four-time Selke Trophy winner Bergeron got the most votes isn’t overly surprising although I feel the head coaches tend to mix in the player’s career body of work with their 2019-20 season impressions. Still, what’s not to like about the centre’s season?“Boston is in first place and Bergeron is the best two-way player in the game. Easy selection,” said one NHL head coach.“He is the gold standard,” said another coach.But Couturier, who seems destined to win a Selke, maybe even this season, certainly got lots of love.For one head coach, it wasn’t even an argument, pointing he argues to the fact Couturier is ahead of Bergeron “in almost every relevant statistical category.”Another head coach who voted for the centre said he asked some of his players who they would vote for after I reached out to him and most of his players responded with Couturier. That’s some respect from Couturier’s peers.There’s also the feeling that Couturier is overdue, which one head coach pointed to, and I know people love when they hear that.Last season’s Selke winner got three votes and one head coach felt strongly that no other forward was as consistently a force at both ends than O’Reilly.Two-time Selke winner Kopitar got two votes, one coach saying when he thought about which opposing centre gave his top line the most trouble matchup wise, it was definitely Kopitar.And finally, Cirelli got some respect with one vote, plus he got mentioned a bunch of times from other coaches saying the young forward was on the rise for this award.Danault, by the way, didn’t get any votes but he was another name who routinely got thrown in as a mention from coaches who love his game. The same went for , last season’s runner-up for the award.By the way, a fun sidebar: one head coach said he came very close to picking (!), citing the player’s monster 5-on-5 dominance, but in the end decided against it because the star doesn’t kill penalties. He voted for Couturier instead.So that’s the coaching perspective.Now to look closer at the numbers, our Flyers beat writer Charlie O’Connor did a in March when the season went on pause.And here are some other regular stats to consider.Takeaways (Rank among NHL forwards)2. Stone, 786. O’Reilly, 6918. Cirelli, 5339. Bergeron and Teravainen, 4464. Couturier, 40Defensive zone faceoffs (Rank among NHL forwards)1. O’Reilly, 5932. J. Staal, 5453. Pageau, 5325. Danault, 52512. Kopitar, 47232. Bergeron, 35837. Cirelli, 331Shorthanded ice time per game (Rank among NHL forwards)5. Cirelli, 2:4913. Danault, 2:3128. J. Staal, 2:2148. O’Reilly, 2:0956. Couturier, 2:0280. Kopitar, 1:4787. Bergeron, 1:43Final analysisThe main candidates this season, in no particular order, are Couturier, Bergeron, Cirelli, O’Reilly, Kopitar, Danault and Stone, with the top spot for me coming down to Couturier or Bergeron.We’ve been asked by the PHWA not to reveal our ballots ahead of time. But our ballots are made public so you can see how I voted when they are published following the award announcements.It should be an incredibly close race between and Cale Makar for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. I can’t wait to see how close.Again, selected members of the PHWA were to submit five names on their ballots ranked 1 through 5.But the 1-2 race is where it’s at. More like 1A and 1B.Our Canucks beat writer Thomas Drance last week argued why the guy he covers deserves to edge out Makar by a hair in a .Here’s what I decided to do. I reached out to a source on 11 Western Conference teams not named Colorado or Vancouver last week and asked a simple question: Makar or Hughes for the Calder?While most of the respondents qualified their answer by saying how difficult the choice was, I hope Canucks fans avert their eyes to what comes next.Out of the 11 responses from 11 different Western Conference team sources, 10 voted for Makar and one abstained, saying it was a 50-50 coin toss for him.“Makar,” said one Western Conference team executive. “A bit more rounded game, stronger defensively. Offensive game for both the same.”“Both really good but I just think Makar is really special,” said another Western Conference team executive. “When he really figures out the league he’s going to dominate. A physical presence to him.”Again, every single Western Conference team source loved both players. But when push came to shove, 10 voted for Makar.I think our PHWA vote is going to be way closer than that. And I can tell you I debated long and hard until the moment I had to submit my vote.Again, the PHWA has asked us not to divulge our ballots ahead of when the winners are announced. I will make a point of tweeting out my ballot for each award at that time.(Photo: Len Redkoles / NHLI via Getty Images)

Jun 15, 2020Every year, the Selke Trophy, for my money anyway, requires the most research if you’re going to look at as many layers as possible before making your choices.The award goes “to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.”Last season’s winner, deservedly, was Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues.But the debate right off the bat is how loose with that definition you’re willing to be when you’re voting. My definition of who the best defensive forward in the league might be different than it is for the best two-way forward in the league. And I think what’s...

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Pierre LeBrun

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LeBrun: NHL coaches make their Selke Trophy picks and inside the Calder debate

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