Flyers Forward Sean Couturier Wins Selke Trophy

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

For several seasons, Sean Couturier’s name has come up among the top defensive forwards in the game. For the last couple of seasons, as the offensive side has come around, Couturier was getting recognized as one of the best two-way forwards in the game.

He finally has some hardware to show for that. Couturier was named the winner of the Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy, presented annually to “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game," for the 2019-20 season on Thursday.

Couturier becomes the third Flyer to take home the award, the first since Dave Poulin in 1987. Bobby Clarke won the award in 1983.

Couturier scored 22 goals and had 59 points in 69 games played in the regular season. He also led the NHL with a 59.6 winning percentage in face-offs. 

Couturier won the award impressively ahead of Boston forward Patrice Bergeron and St. Louis forward Ryan O’Reilly. Couturier received 117 first-place votes and finished with 1,424 total voting points. Bergeron was second with 884 total voting points and 21 first-place votes. O’Reilly was third with 11 first-place votes. Anthony Cirelli and Mark Stone rounded out the top five of voting.

Couturier was a finalist for the Selke in 2018, finishing second to Anze Kopitar, and finished sixth in voting last season.