Philadelphia Flyers: Sean Couturier named 14th best center in playoffs

The oft underrated center was named to the top 16 centers entering the playoffs. However, the Flyers young forward barely made the list to begin with.

Sean Couturier is known to be underrated around the league. That has shown itself time and time again when looking at the top centers in the league. The Flyers forward has once again found himself in that boat.

Taking a look at the top 16 centers entering the playoffs, Couturier was almost left entirely off the list. He came in as the 14th best center the league has to offer this postseason.

With a list that has Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby on it, Couturier isn’t going to be the best in the league. But almost failing to make the list? Two of the centers listed above him have less points than he does. That includes Patrice Bergeron who comes in at fourth on the list.

That’s ahead of players like Leon Draisaitl and Evgeni Malkin. Now, playoff points seem to play a small factor here as well and Bergeron has that going for him. But it’s hard to believe he deserves to be that high on the list.

The way the voting worked was pretty simple. First place centers received 16 votes, second place was given 15 and so on a so forth. Unsurprisingly, McDavid came in with 199 total points. That comes despite only appearing in 13 total playoff games.

Crosby came in just behind with 198 points. Even though he has a massive 186 points in 164 playoff games, it wasn’t enough to unseat what McDavid did this season.

For Couturier, he received a total of 40 points among the voters. And this comes despite being mentioned as a player in the running for the Selke Trophy. So shouldn’t he be higher on the list if so?

The award typically goes to the best two-way forward in the game. It has mostly been given to centers during its long history. A winger has only won the award nine times since 1978.

This wasn’t Couturier’s best season offensively, but he continued to be a stud on defense. And among some of the other candidates for the Selke, Couturier has the best case to win the award for the first time.

So maybe the league will rate the Flyers forward more accordingly if he is to take home the award.