With NHL Awards season near, our writers make a case for each of Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews and Patrice Bergeron as a potential winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the NHL’s best defensive forward. Which player is most deserving of the hardware?
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
I dare you to be a better hockey player than Pavel Datsyuk. I double dare you.
The Red Wings’ star centre is deserving of the Selke pretty much every year, and 2013 is no different. He’s already a three-time winner and has now been a finalist for six straight seasons, an NHL record.
The Russian had 56 takeaways, which was tied for most in the NHL. He also had one of the best face-off winning percentages in the league; if your team has the puck, you’re not getting scored on.
As a team, the Red Wings scored only nine more goals than they allowed, yet Datsyuk posted a terrific plus-21 rating.
Sidney Crosby, among others, has marveled at how fast and effective Datsyuk is when backchecking, and there’s no one in hockey better at winning battles for the puck, either in the open ice or along the boards, than Datsyuk.
He’s consistently – every single time he touches the ice – one of the most difficult players to play against, and that’s another reason why Datsyuk deserves the Selke for a fourth time.
– Mike Johnston
Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
The Selke Trophy vote might be the tightest of all the awards – Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk and Jonathan Toews are three of the most complete players in the NHL.
But if you had to pick one forward to shut down the opposition or defend a lead, it’s Bergeron. For starters, no player in the league was more successful in the faceoff dot this season than Bergeron, who won 62.1 per cent of his draws.
Bergeron also had the fewest offensive zone starts (42.4 per cent) of the three, according to behindthenet.ca, but finished 47.2 per cent of his shifts in the offensive zone. His ability to push the puck up the ice despite his primarily defensive responsibilities is a significant boon to his candidacy.
While Bergeron didn’t face as stiff of competition as Toews or Datsyuk, he was on the ice for fewer goals against per game (1.29) than all but six players in the NHL – a staggeringly low number given his ice time and defensive zone starts.
And like all good defensive players Bergeron was a fixture on the Bruins’ fourth-ranked penalty kill, spending nearly an extra minute per game killing penalties than either Datsyuk or Toews.
Bergeron won the Selke last year for these same reasons, and he’s a good bet to walk away with the trophy this time around as well.
– Mackenzie Liddell
Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks
If finding something that Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews does not do well offensively is difficult, finding a hole in his defensive game is almost impossible.
The Stanley Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist tied for the league lead in takeaways with 56 and hit a career high in plus/minus with a plus-28 (third best in the NHL). Even more impressive, his road plus/minus was the best for anyone since the 2008-09 season, at a clip of plus-21.
In terms of faceoffs, his 59.9 per cent success rate at the dot was good for second in the NHL, and he tied for second in the league with 559 draws won despite taking just the seventh most faceoffs with 993.
Yet Toews’ effect on the Hawks extends beyond his individual numbers. Chicago gave up only 2.02 goals per game (a league best), and Toews played an average of 1:25 shorthanded per game for the NHL’s third-best penalty kill. But more than all that, he is a leader and a battler on all 200 feet of the ice. Toews is the most important piece on the league’s best team.
– Jamie Neugebauer
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