Selke finalists: Bergeron (BOS), Couturier (PHI) & Kopitar (LA).

[ZzZz]

Yet he had the highest defensive zone start rate among Flyers forwards at 43% OZS.

xD

 

[StoneHands]

2/3 of the nominees weren't playing against opponents top lines, and Kopitar was playing against top lines about half of the time. Couturier has deserved a nomination for a while, but they choose to give it to him when he is in an offensive role for the first time in his career. Get the media away from the voting please.

If Couturier wasn't playing against top lines then who was? It certainly wasn't Patrick, Filppula, or Laughton.

 

[ZzZz]

If Couturier wasn't playing against top lines then who was? It certainly wasn't Patrick, Filppula, or Laughton.

Filppula/Laughton for away games, and still at home as much as Couturier was.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

2/3 of the nominees weren't playing against opponents top lines, and Kopitar was playing against top lines about half of the time. Couturier has deserved a nomination for a while, but they choose to give it to him when he is in an offensive role for the first time in his career. Get the media away from the voting please.

If Kopitar was playing against opponent top lines only half the time, it's because the home teams were hiding their top line from him rather than vice versa.

No one else on the Kings was alive to eat hard minutes. Carter was dead half the season. Shore got some tough minutes but he was traded. Kempe was as sheltered as sheltered can be. Mitchell/Thompson were traded to take SOME of the load, but Kopitar was still the consistent "eat the hardest minutes" guy....hell he had the highest ToIQoC in the entire league and had more time on ice than any other forward.

 

[ZzZz]

If Kopitar was playing against opponent top lines only half the time, it's because the home teams were hiding their top line from him rather than vice versa.

No one else on the Kings was alive to eat hard minutes. Carter was dead half the season. Shore got some tough minutes but he was traded. Kempe was as sheltered as sheltered can be. Mitchell/Thompson were traded to take SOME of the load, but Kopitar was still the consistent "eat the hardest minutes" guy....hell he had the highest ToIQoC in the entire league and had more time on ice than any other forward.

That is exactly why, Kings could have made more effort to get Kopi to the bench instead of keeping him out against their middle 6 forwards, but they would leave him out there to maintain possession, and it seemed to work very well. Playing more minutes than other players affects how his line is matched since his line would almost always see 2 different lines every shift.