Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron’s bid for an NHL record fifth Selke Trophy came up short, as the 35-year-old Bergeron finished second behind the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov for this year’s honor.
Bergeron finished 158 points behind Barkov, and the difference undoubtedly came in first-place votes, as Barkov collected 62 compared to just 15 for Bergeron. There was (somehow) a substantial difference in top-three votes between the two, as well, as Barkov was in the top three of 85 ballots while Bergeron finished in the top three in just 69 total ballots.
The Selke voting #NHL pic.twitter.com/UAC8XngB6k
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 19, 2021
It’s a little bit strange, to be honest, as Bergeron was one of just five players to take at least 1,100 faceoffs, and Bergeron led the NHL in both faceoff wins (714) faceoff win percentage (62.2%). If there was ever a year for Bergeron to truly win this award and not just win it based on his ‘status’ or some other nonsense voters often convince themselves of, it was this season.
3. Barkov is... an interesting one. Excellent offence, pretty average defensive impacts in the isolated model. The raw numbers are good so might be a case of it misallocating some "credit," but his defensive metrics have always been lower than the reputation. #FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/ieUMN9bOhF
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 6, 2021
Brad Marchand finished ninth in this year’s voting, with 39 points, including two first-place votes.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.