Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron has broken an NHL record by capturing the Selke Trophy for the fifth time in his career as the NHL’s best defensive forward.
Bergeron, 36, was named on 194 of 195 ballots submitted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and placed first on 160 of those ballots. Calgary Flames forward Elias Lindholm placed second (21 first-place ballots) while Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (10 first-place votes) was third.
The win moved Bergeron past Hall of Fame forward Bob Gainey of the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he was tied with four Selke wins. Bergeron previously won the award in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
This was also the 11th consecutive season Bergeron was named a finalist for the award, which set another NHL record. He had been tied with Wayne Gretzky, who was a Hart Trophy finalist for 10 straight seasons.
Bergeron led the NHL in faceoff wins for the seventh time in his career, winning 61.9% of his draws. He had 25 goals and 40 assists in 73 games for the Bruins this season.
Bergeron, who does not have a contract for next season, has played all 18 of his NHL seasons in Boston. He said Sunday that he is recovering from surgery to repair a tendon is his elbow. Bergeron said the surgery happened Tuesday and that recovery time is usually 10-12 weeks.