No Selke for Bergeron
NHL AWARDS
LAS VEGAS — The Bruins were shut out at the NHL Awards last night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Patrice Bergeron was again up for the Selke Trophy, which would have been his record fifth win, but the award as the best defensive forward voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association went to the Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar. Bergeron came in third behind Kopitar’s award-winning 1,152 points. Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier came in second with 976 points. Bergeron garnered 817 points.
The B’s Bruce Cassidy lost out as top coach to the favorite, Vegas Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant, who guided the expansion team to the Stanley Cup finals in an unprecedented feat. Gallant ran away with the contest, voted on by the broadcasters, with 525 points. Cassidy was second with 153. Colorado’s Jared Bednar was third with 114.
It was the seventh consecutive year Bergeron has been a finalist for the Selke. Bergeron suffered a broken foot that cost him a month of the season. Had he played a full season, he may have been a finalist for the Hart, as Kopitar was. In 64 games, Bergeron notched 30-33-63 totals.
“It’s an honor being beside these two players (Kopitar and Couturier), amazing players that I respect a lot and they have a huge impact on their team. For Anze, it speaks for itself. He was nominated for the Hart as well. He’s an amazing player, he’s had a great career and had an amazing year,” said Bergeron, who received one fifth place vote for Hart.
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy came in fifth on Calder Trophy voting. Brad Marchand voted came in 10th in the Selke voting and 11th in the Hart voting, getting two third-place votes for the MVP. Don Sweeney finished fourth in GM of the Year voting.
It was an emotional evening, with the mass shootings in Vegas and Parkland, Fla., two horrific events that impacted those local NHL communities, were addressed in the show. And there was a particularly wrenching tribute to the Humboldt Broncos, the junior team whose bus was hit by a truck in Sakatchewan, killing 16 including coach Darcy Haugan. Some of the surviving members were on hand, as was Haugan’s wife, who received the inaugural Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award on her husband’s behalf.
Bergeron and Cassidy were touched by Humboldt tribute.
“It was actually tough to watch,” Bergeron said. “That video of everyone that passed and seeing kids and the coach that passed was hard. Like Taylor Hall said, it puts things in perspective. I had a chance to talk to them before the award show. I was glad I was able to do that.”
His message?
“That I was thinking of them first of all, and that I was admiring their strength and character and courage,” Bergeron said. “I told them any time they’re in Boston, they’re welcome in my suite and I’ll bring them down to meet the guys and everything. As we say, the hockey community is a small world and a family. It definitely hits home when you see something like that.”
New Jersey’s Hall won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player. The high-scoring Devils forward beat out fellow first-time Hart finalists Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado and Kopitar. Hall got 72 firstplace votes to MacKinnon’s 60. Hall became the first New Jersey player to win the league’s biggest individual honor after he finished sixth in the league with 93 points.
High-scoring Knights forward William Karlsson won the Lady Byng Trophy for the player best combining sportsmanship and ability, and defenseman Deryk Engelland won the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for his actions in the wake of the shooting massacre on the Las Vegas Strip shortly before their first game.
Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won his first Norris Trophy as the top defenseman, New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal won the Calder Trophy in a landslide as the top rookie and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne won his first Vezina Trophy as the top goalie.