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Toews, Bergeron, Kopitar are the Selke Trophy finalists

Boston Bruins v Florida Panthers

Boston Bruins v Florida Panthers

NHLI via Getty Images

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron and Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar have been selected as the three finalists for the Selke Trophy. The trophy rewards the league’s best forward from a defensive standpoint.

Bergeron is looking to claim the award for the third time in just four years. He led the league in 2014-15 with a 60.2 success rate on the draw, had 48 takeaways, and a plus-two rating over 81 games. From an analytics perspective, he had a great season with a Fenwick percentage of 57.36 in 5-on-5 situations compared to the Bruins’ Fenwick of 48.01% when he was off the ice. In other words, Boston was far better when it came to possessing the puck when he was on the ice.

That translates to a Fenwick Relative percentage of plus-9.35, which was the second highest in the league among players that logged at least 800 total minutes of ice time.

Toews won the Selke Trophy back in 2013. He finished with the fifth highest plus/minus rating at plus-30 and his 56.5% on the draw ranked sixth in the NHL. He also had 45 takeaways in 81 contests.

His Fenwick numbers weren’t as impressive as Bergeron, but were still strong. Toews had a 54.02 Fenwick percentage compared to Chicago’s 51.84% when he was off the ice.

For Kopitar, this is his second nomination in as many days as he was list among the Lady Byng finalists last night. He had a faceoff percentage in 2014-15 was 52.6, a minus-two rating, and 29 takeaways. While those numbers aren’t great compared to his competitors, he looks much better from a Fenwick perspective.

His 5-on-5 Fenwick percentage was 58.93 in 2014-15 compared to Los Angeles’ 53.16% when he wasn’t on the ice. He also had the highest 5-on-5 Fenwick plus/minus of the three candidates at plus-260, which measures the unblocked shots his team took while he was on the ice against the unblocked shots his opponents took.

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