Patrice Bergeron’s dominance as perhaps the best two-way forward in the game continues.
For the fourth time in six years, Bergeron has captured the Selke Trophy, given to the forward that best excels in the defensive aspects of the game. He ties Bob Gainey as the only player to win the award four times.
He beats out Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Kesler, a winner of this award in 2011, and first-time finalist Mikko Koivu of the Minnesota Wild.
Bergeron scored 21 goals and 53 points in 79 games, helping the Bruins back into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Simply put, Bergeron may go down as one of the best two-way forwards to play the game when his career is done. Not only does he put up solid offensive numbers every season, scoring 30 or more goals in three different seasons, but he’s counted upon to take key faceoffs -- winning 60.1 per cent of his draws -- and he dominates in puck possession.
This past season, in more than 1,035 minutes at five-on-five, Bergeron had a 61.1 per cent Corsi For rating.
Last month, Bergeron underwent surgery for a sports hernia but is expected to be ready for the start of next season.
The award is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Here is how the voting turned out:
Points. (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 1147 (71-39-24-11-11)
2. Ryan Kesler, ANA 945 (45-45-25-15-10)
3. Mikko Koivu, MIN 752 (28-34-28-28-10)
4. Mikael Backlund, CGY 310 (3-12-26-16-18)
5. Jonathan Toews, CHI 273 (5-9-17-17-24)
6. Mark Stone, OTT 113 (0-2-7-16-16)
7. Nicklas Backstrom, WSH 111 (1-6-4-9-12)
8. John Tavares, NYI 80 (1-5-2-6-7)
9. Jordan Staal, CAR 55 (1-3-2-3-5)
10. Sidney Crosby, PIT 51 (3-1-2-1-1)
11. Ryan O’Reilly, BUF 51 (0-1-5-4-7)
12. Brad Marchand, BOS 50 (1-3-3-1-1)
13. Mikael Granlund, MIN 33 (0-1-1-6-3)
14. Marian Hossa, CHI 31 (1-0-2-3-2)
15. Anze Kopitar, LAK 30 (0-0-2-5-5)
16. Connor McDavid, EDM 28 (1-0-2-2-2)
17. Aleksander Barkov, FLA 21 (1-0-1-1-3)
18. Henrik Zetterberg, DET 21 (0-1-2-1-1)
19. T.J. Oshie, WSH 20 (2-0-0-0-0)
20. Nazem Kadri, TOR 19 (0-1-2-0-2)