San Jose Sharks F Joe Pavelski: Selke Trophy Nominee
By Ryan Ritchie
San Jose Sharks F Joe Pavelski Deserves Serious Consideration in the Selke Conversation
San Jose Sharks F Joe Pavelski deserves to be in the Selke Trophy conversation as the forward who exemplifies the most skill in the defensive aspect of the game.
Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk, Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Toews are a few of the front-runners that come to mind for many when it comes to Selke Trophy nominations. Strong two-way centers who take a lot of big face-off’s often top the list.
Those type of players have won the Award in each season since the 2004-05 lock-out. Those winners:
2014-15 – Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
2013-14 – Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
2012-13 – Jonathan Toews (CHI)
2011-12 – Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
2010-11 – Ryan Kesler (VAN)
2009-10 – Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
2008-09 – Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
2007-08 – Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
2006-07 – Rod Brind’Amour (CAR)
2005-06 – Rod Brind’Amour (CAR)
In the 2003-04 season prior to the lock-out, Detroit’s Kris Draper took home the hardware. The year before that was the last time a winger won the Selke – Dallas’ Jere Lehtinen.
San Jose Sharks Offensive Group
Teams such as Boston have Patrice Bergeron leading the team with more than 1800 face-offs taken, with a distinct drop-off of only three-to-four players regularly taking draws on these types of teams.
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The Sharks have an abundance of quality players with the ability to take draws. Joe Pavelski leads the way in face-offs with 898 (almost 1000 less than Bergeron). San Jose has seven players who have seen more than 400 pucks dropped. Instead of relying on one or two players, the Sharks have a ton of versatility, with the ability to shift these guys back-and-forth from the wing.
In a Sportsnet piece written last week, staff suggested that “Joe Thornton deserves Selke Trophy consideration“. While there are very strong arguments to support this opinion, there is perhaps more reason to throw San Jose Sharks F Joe Pavelski in the mix ahead of his teammate.
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While Joe Pavelski’s 54.9 face-off win percentage isn’t in the 57-58 range of Patrice Bergeron or Jonathan Toews, it does rank slightly higher than Joe Thornton‘s 53 percent (719 total face-offs).
Both players rank 1-2 in team scoring. Pavelski has 37 goals, 38 assists (75 points), and Thornton has 18 goals, 56 assists (74 points). Considering how important goals are in today’s NHL, Pavelski’s goal-mark is much more impressive.
At plus-27 (+27), the two Joe’s are tied for fifth (with two others) in overall plus/minus. Ahead of them is Evgeny Kuznetsov WSH (+28), Chris Kunitz PIT (+30), Anze Kopitar LA (+31), and Tyler Toffoli LA (+33).
The Sharks 23rd ranked penalty kill is nothing to brag about, but it’s worth noting that Joe Pavelski logs a little over 30 seconds/game of PK time, whereas Thornton logs a mere two seconds. Pavelski isn’t one of San Jose’s go-to penalty killers, but he does contribute a bit more to a highly defensive aspect of the game.
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Final Thought
Statistics aside, Pavelski deserves a lot of credit. He has arguably been the Sharks best defensive forward since the start of 2014-15 (over the past two years). His 2015-16 performance is all that more impressive when you consider the shift in leadership that put extra weight on his shoulders with the captaincy. Let’s not forget the coaching change that brought forth a new system/philosophy.
It’s not to suggest that Sportsnet is wrong in their assessment of Joe Thornton as a Selke Trophy candidate – but there might be a stronger argument for captain/teammate Joe Pavelski.