Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand would be in favor of changing the name of the Frank J. Selke Trophy in the future.
For Marchand, re-naming the Selke Trophy, which is given to the NHL’s best defensive forward, as the “Patrice Bergeron Award” has a nice ring to it.
Bergeron recently won the Selke Trophy for the fifth time in his career, which is the most ever in the history of the NHL. Marchand appeared in a social media video post by the Bruins congratulating his teammate on the repeat honor, and offered the name change as well.
“Bergy, just want to congratulate you on winning another Selke, which we will soon be calling the Patrice Bergeron Award,” Marchand said. “Couldn’t be happier for you, man. So well-deserved. It’s an honor to watch how gifted you are, and to be able to compete beside you, see how much of a warrior you are every single day.”
Bergeron, who has spent all 18 years of his NHL career with the Bruins and is still deciding whether he will return for another season, first won the Selke Trophy in 2012 and captured it three more times from 2014-17.
This season, Bergeron amassed 25 goals and 40 assists for 65 points while also leading the league with 991 faceoff wins. Bergeron’s defensive presence aided the Bruins in allowing the fourth-lowest goals per game average in the NHL at 2.66.
The 36-year-old Bergeron beat out Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov and Calgary Flames’ Elias Lindholm to earn his record-breaking achievement.
The Selke Trophy, which is one the five main awards the NHL hands out, is named after Frank J. Selke, who was the former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians.
But Marchand, with more campaigning from him and others around the league, certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the NHL re-brand the award and name it after Bergeron.
