For the second consecutive season, the Flyers number one center is the team’s MVP.
Wrapping up the team awards was the Bobby Clarke Trophy. The award honors the Flyers most valuable player. It is voted on by a panel of local broadcasters and writers.
And for the second straight season, they deemed Sean Couturier as the team’s most valuable player. In Couturier’s ninth season in the NHL, he has only proven to get better and better each year.
Despite numerous times finishing as a finalist for the Selke Trophy, this could finally be the year that he takes it home. His numbers stack up well against other hopefuls such as Ryan O’Reilly and Patrice Bergeron.
Even though his offensive output has dipped since he broke out the last two years, he is still a model of consistency on the ice. He is far and away one of the most important players on the Flyers roster. And even with the lower output, Couturier still finished second on the team in points. He was just two points behind Travis Konecny for the team lead.
Couturier is available in all situations and plays an especially important role on the Flyers much improved penalty kill. His ice time dipped a bit this season, however he’s still averaging close to 20 minutes every night. An average of about two minutes of that is spent on the penalty kill each game.
While he prides himself on the defensive side of the game, he shines in other areas as well. He is one of the best in the game when it comes to face offs. He leads the team with a stellar 59.62 winning percentage. That is an especially important stat when it comes to his victories while short handed.
But going back to his defensive game, he is one of the best at shutting the other teams down. His 57.2 CF% leads all Flyers at even strength. And that’s with almost half of his starts coming in the defensive zone.
He drives play extremely well as he leads the team in Fenwick (56.3%) as well. So even with Couturier starting in the defensive zone as much as he does, he is able to help drive the play the other way whenever he is on the ice.
Couturier is the first player to win the award in back to back seasons since Claude Giroux did in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Giroux also holds the record for the most MVP awards with five.
With his growing importance to the team, this certainly won’t be the last time Couturier takes this award home.