Bergeron of Bruins wins Selke Trophy as best defensive forward
Center led NHL in face-off, SAT percentage to claim award for record fifth time
Bergeron awarded 2021-22 Frank J. Selke Trophy
The Boston Bruins center won the award for a record fifth time to break a tie with Bob Gainey, who won it four times with the Montreal Canadiens from 1977-81. He was presented with the 2022 award by Doug Jarvis, the 1984 winner with the Washington Capitals.
"It's definitely an honor," Bergeron said. "I think I'm humbled, that's the first word that comes to mind. It is an individual award but obviously you can't get any of those without the help of your teammates. I've said that in my acceptance speech, there's so many people to thank and there's a reason why. Been fortunate to play on great teams and win five Selkes and yeah, it goes to them obviously. As I said, it's humbling. It's the only award that I have."
RELATED: [Complete list of Frank J. Selke Trophy winners]
Bergeron led the NHL in face-off percentage (61.9 percent; minimum 500 attempts) and was first in face-offs won (991) for the seventh time in his career. He was second in face-offs taken (1,600) and third in defensive-zone face-off percentage (59.3 percent). Bergeron led the NHL in SAT percentage (minimum 25 games) with Boston taking 65.1 percent of all shot attempts when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, the highest percentage of any player since the statistic was first recorded in 2009-10. He was third among Bruins forwards in average time on ice per game (18:10), second in shorthanded ice time per game (1:41), second in blocked shots (45) and third in takeaways (37). He was third on Boston with 65 points (25 goals, 40 assists) in 73 games and helped it finish 51-26-5 and clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth straight season.
"Obviously the structure of the way we play as a team that we've played for a long time in Boston has helped me tremendously," Bergeron said. "I'll say it again, teammates, linemates, but also positioning, trying to read plays. No one's going to be shocked if I say I'm not the fastest skater out there, but I like to maybe put myself in a position where I don't have to do the extra strides or I guess waste the energy for no reason. Over the years I've gained experience and I've learned to put myself in a position where I can be the best positioned defensively but also go back on the attack."
Bergeron, who last won the Selke in 2016-17, has been a finalist for a record 11 consecutive seasons.
"The 11 in a row, as a player, I think you want to be a consistent player, you want to be known as a consistent player, so yes it's nice to be recognized that way," he said. "But I've said many times, that's the way I've learned to play the game and that's the way I want to play the game. I don't think I would've changed the way I play on the ice or the way I would've done it for the last 18, 19 years now. I think I've learned a lot, so many great people, coaches who have made me a better player obviously."
Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, who won the Selke last season, and Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm, were the other finalists for the award.
2021-22 Frank J. Selke Trophy Voting
Pts (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
1. Patrice Bergeron, BOS 1798 (160-20-11-0-3)
2. Elias Lindholm, CGY 878 (21-46-50-28-12)
3. Aleksander Barkov, FLA 746 (10-52-40-22-16)
4. Ryan O'Reilly, STL 415 (1-16-28-39-36)
5. Anthony Cirelli, TBL 385 (0-28-19-22-28)
6. Anze Kopitar, LAK 163 (3-9-6-10-10)
7. Joel Eriksson Ek, MIN 113 (0-7-4-9-17)
8. Phillip Danault, LAK 78 (0-3-5-8-8)
9. Marcus Foligno, MIN 77 (0-3-5-7-10)
10. Auston Matthews, TOR 70 (0-2-6-4-14)
11. Jordan Staal, CAR 58 (0-0-4-11-5)
12. Brad Marchand, BOS 53 (0-1-6-4-4)
13. Mikael Backlund, CGY 45 (0-4-1-3-3)
14. Sebastian Aho, CAR 32 (0-0-2-6-4)
15. Mika Zibanejad, NYR 25 (0-1-1-3-4)
16. Mitchell Marner, TOR 24 (0-1-1-3-3)
17. Jesper Fast, CAR 13 (0-1-1-0-1)
18. Mason Marchment, FLA 13 (0-1-0-2-0)
19. Rasmus Asplund, BUF 11 (0-0-1-2-0)
20. Valeri Nichushkin, COL 11 (0-0-1-0-6)
21. Roope Hintz, DAL 10 (0-0-0-2-4)
22. Joe Pavelski, DAL 6 (0-0-1-0-1)
23. J.T. Miller, VAN 6 (0-0-0-2-0)
24. Andrew Copp, NYR 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
Vincent Trocheck, CAR 5 (0-0-1-0-0)
26. Colton Sissons, NSH 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
27. Johnny Gaudreau, CGY 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Nazem Kadri, COL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
David Kampf, TOR 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Jesse Puljujarvi, EDM 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Michael Raffl, DAL 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Sam Reinhart, FLA 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
Matthew Tkachuk, CGY 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
34. Sidney Crosby, PIT 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Bo Horvat, VAN 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Anton Lundell, FLA 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, NYI 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
Evan Rodrigues, PIT 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
* Points allocation: 10-7-5-3-1 (1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)
