3 Reasons Sean Couturier can win second Selke with Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are off to a very respectable 2-1-0 start to their regular season, and the return of former Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier has played a big part in that.

Couturier has played with a variety of different linemates to start the year, including Cam Atkinson, Joel Farabee, rookies Bobby Brink and Tyson Foerster, and Owen Tippett. The common denominator between all of these players is that they’ve played their best hockey – analytically, that is – next to the veteran center.

In just his third NHL regular season game since Dec. 18, 2021, Couturier drew and converted a penalty shot against the Vancouver Canucks, and dominated a matchup with Hart Trophy candidate Elias Pettersson. The 30-year-old faced his Swedish counterpart for 2:49 at even strength and out-attempted him 8-5. In that same timeframe, the Flyers generated six scoring chances to to the Canucks’ three. Of those six scoring chances, five were high-danger.

A herculean effort from Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko kept the score from getting ugly, but Philadelphia can be proud of a staunch defensive effort that allowed them to dominate in front of Flyers faithful. But, can the team – and Couturier himself – take things one step even further?

Back in his prime, the 2019 Selke Trophy winner was one of the league’s very best two-way centers. Indeed, not one of the biggest stars nor a superstar. But, if the Flyers can keep up their defense-first charade throughout the entire season, a wildcard playoff spot isn’t out of the question. Neither is a second Selke Trophy for Couturier. Let’s discuss.

#3. Flyers, Couturier ahead of the competition

The New Jersey Devils and the Florida Panthers were two of the best Eastern Conference teams last year, and both made lengthy playoff runs. Each team’s blueline has experienced a lot of turnover heading into this season, and defense goes a long way towards achieving results.

The Flyers too have injected a lot of youth into their defense corps, but most of these players have played together in some capacity previously. Most of their rivals don’t have that benefit, and the early results have shown so.

For Couturier, having a strong supporting cast is important because at times, this will allow him to focus on his nightly matchup by itself. If the rest of the team can take care of their jobs, it will make his that much easier.

In this regard, Selke candidates like Nico Hischier and Aleksander Barkov have their work cut out for them. Hischier, who was last year’s Selke runner-up to the retired Patrice Bergeron, is without a point in his first three games and has struggled to create any offense. Barkov finished outside the top-five in voting last year after placing third the year prior, and winning the year before that.

It’ll be interesting to see how things play out, but right now, Couturier and the Flyers are quietly in a good place to kick off the new season.

#2. No more Bergeron for the Flyers

The longtime Bruins captain is now retired and can no longer be a thorn in the Flyers’ side, and his absence means more opportunities to win the Selke Trophy for players like Couturier.

After not having won the prestigious award since his age 31 season in 2015-16, Bergeron closed out his NHL career with back-to-back victories at ages 36 and 37. The pair of wins brought him up to a whopping six in total – an unprecedented level of dominance. Only he and Bob Gainey (4) have won the award more than three times.

With a clean bill of health and a rejuvenated supporting cast, Couturier is now in prime position to become the only Flyers player to win the Selke multiple times. In fact, only nine other players in total have won the award more than once, which makes for an even deeper cut into the history books.

A fairly large amount of people believe the Selke Trophy should be renamed after Bergeron, and the older Flyers players should be thankful every day that they won’t have to face such a dominant and smart player like that again. After that, they can turn their attention to helping their teammate secure his second piece of major silverware.