No Matthews for Selke?

Seriously, where on Earth is everyone getting this insane notion that Suzuki should be anywhere remotely near the Selke? I'm completely baffled.

Folks, there is a long list of forwards that are worlds beyond Suzuki defensively. So so so many forwards.

Kucherov only winger in NHL HISTORY with 100 assists only 5th person to do so in a season Gretzky, Lemieux,Orr, McDavid. Only 4 others to do it. Kucherov had 54 more points than #2 Point @90 . TB without Kucherov is in the Macklin Celebrini sweepstakes.

While maybe he doesn’t deserve a Selke nomination, he is pretty good defensively. 2nd among all Montreal players in xGA/60 (minimum 500 minutes). JFresh’s model also had him ranked very good defensively

https://x.com/jfreshhockey/status/1774115292609728864?s=46&t=Em1kSTrQp8S8RWKcSKV0NA

I'm not saying he isn't good defensively. Selke finalist is just nuts. Ranking second on one of the worst defensive teams in the league in xGA anything is a very low bar.

And JFresh doesn't bother to show how he imagines Suzuki ranks 96th percentile defensively in that graphic. It's a ludicrous notion. Like I said, the list of forwards who are tiers above Suzuki defensively is looooong.

Same goes for 67th percentile in penalty killing. Montreal had a bad PK this season, ranked like 23rd or so. Suzuki was only ninth on the team in PK TOI, less than a minute per game. And his on ice PKGA/60 was awful, among the worst on a team that was among the worst PK teams. But he's 67th percentile? How? Sounds like abject nonsense to me.

As loathe as I am to give any Habs player any credit, he's become a very good defensive C. I wouldn't give him the Selke, but he's at bare minimum in the periphery of the conversation.

People aren't ready for this conversation, but the real answer is Jason Robertson.

Kuch for Hart? Sure, I'd accept that. But...



This is where you completely lose me with your argument. I think you significantly underestimate how good the TB roster is, or perhaps you all just haven't been ass in a long enough time for you to know how bad you'd actually need to be to be at the bottom of the league. Have you seen the rosters of the Sharks and the Blackhawks? If Vasi hadn't been hurt to start the year, you all might even have been pushing for the division title. There is no need to inject complete nonsense arguments into the conversation when you have so many real good reasons why Kuch should win the Hart.

Sharks and Hawks fans: apologies for the strays.

Like I said, nobody is claiming he isn't improved defensively. But he's nowhere near the periphery. Not even close. And I'm completely stumped as to how they could possibly justify it statistically. Not even dummy Dom imagines Suzuki is anywhere near Selke consideration.

It's just some bizarre agenda push from the Canadian media or something, and people lap it up because motivated perception. Putting Suzuki third for the Selke is the height of delusion.

Nothing against Suzuki as a player, but he definitely shouldn't be a Selke finalist. You can definitely replace him with Kopitar. He again played an impressive year, despite being 36 years of age. I'm not saying he should be the Selke winner, but he should be in the debate. The things he is providing to the team defensively is just stunning.

Why does it make you so angry?

You clearly didn't watch TB play for the first 2 months of the season if you're making those comments they were awful God awful defensively. Say Kucherov went down early November for 3 months this team isn't sniffing the playoffs seriously they're in the hunt for Celebrini.
This is where your argument is flawed you went by the names on the roster and didn't look at how they played for 2 months.

I'll leave this here:

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fnhl-graphical-standings-april-14-2024-v0-wrt6fuoq1huc1.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dd6205cbf446ab86f71a6d895cfa9a5e5dbdf0a7a

Throughout the first 20 games of the season, TBL were hovering near league average in points with some of the worst goaltending in the league. Did Kuch help buoy them? Absolutely! Was Vasy being gone/recovering a major reason why they had trouble taking off? Yes! This isn't the NBA, one skater does not make the whole team go. If you want to argue that they would have missed the playoffs, then fine, but you made it sound like they would be with the likes of the Sharks, Hawks, and Ducks, which is just silly.

Because pounding your chest like a gorilla is the best way to win meaningless arguments on the Internet!

Iafollo, Kyle Connor, or Slavin for Lady Byng

Where are you getting angry from?



Where do you imagine I pounded my chest like a gorilla?

Are you guys on LSD or something? I asked a valid question and then made a slew of valid points, exactly all of which have been completely ignored, the second time by someone jumping into the conversation solely to take an inaccurate shot at me out of thin air.

But no, please, do lecture us all about internet clownery... tupty, it's like you don't even understand the words you say.

Now, does anyone have any comment on the points I made or just more flailing?

Don't take it personally. It's my attempt at humerous meta-commentary about bravado in Internet arguments, but I guess it did not land. For all I care, you can list Suzuki as the 100th best defensive forward in the league.

Cool, but I'm genuinely trying to figure out where people are getting this wacky notion he's Selke finalist level.

I think you're overrating Matthews, he won't be a finalist for either the Hart or the Lindsay. Personally I think Kucherov wins the Hart.

Dobson isn't a top-3 defenseman, either. I'd have Hughes, Josi and Bouchard as the finalists, although I'm pretty sure Makar will actually be a finalist over Bouchard, despite having a mid season defensively - and being below average without MacKinnon.

Beats me. I usually have to work when games are on, so I don't see games around the league very often. But I know that the best defensive forward does not play for the Bruins this year, that is for sure.