Barkov vs Thomas Selke award

[SonnyBlack]

Thomas should have won it. Stats don’t tell the whole story but the the disparity of plus minus was to great. Thomas +20
Barkov +1. Also, the awards are for regular season. Playoffs have nothing to do with it. I am pretty sure the awards are voted on before playoffs.

[callitwhatyouwant]

Reputation goes a long way in these awards and Barkov (rightfully) has a stellar reputation as a defensive forward. +/- doesn't really tell the story the way the more advanced metrics do these days. Thomas would also get more love in a major market or if the Blues really became contenders again. I'm not sure he's Selke caliber right now, but he's certainly become an elite all-around player.

Reputation is definitely a huge part of it. The other big factor that we as fans don't see as easily is how often he is shifted against the other teams top line and how many defensive end shifts he has to start in. This goes for any player. Just from the eye test, it seems the Blues were going to throw Faksa or Schenn out there in the defensive end depending on scenario. UNLESS they had to have a faceoff late. That's when Thomas seemed to get the call or it was Faksa but usually both would be out there incase one got dumped off the dot.

Thomas was definitely taking the majority of offensive zone faceoffs. Blues were lucky to have 3 good guys on the dot this year. Faksa was at 57 Thomas at 55 and Schenn at 52. Only Sunny was at 45. I'm sure a majority of teams aren't as blessed to have 3 guys on the positive side of that.

Just cause I was curious.... Thomas had 53.2 - 46.8 zone starts. Barkov had 59.8 - 40.2.

Faksa's was skewed far more heavily to the dzone at over 70%, but that's because he was not really expected to provide any offense.

was that offense first defense 2nd? That makes this conversation way more interesting. Because that would be a big plus for Thomas game.

[sdaltons]

The fact that either of them are even in the conversation should tell you all you need to know about these "awards"

Most defensively responsible star forward

Lol yes. Just like the best defenseman award is really the best offensive defenseman award a lot of the time.

[bluetunehead]

Reputation goes a long way in these awards and Barkov (rightfully) has a stellar reputation as a defensive forward. +/- doesn't really tell the story the way the more advanced metrics do these days. Thomas would also get more love in a major market or if the Blues really became contenders again. I'm not sure he's Selke caliber right now, but he's certainly become an elite all-around player.

Reputation is definitely a huge part of it. The other big factor that we as fans don't see as easily is how often he is shifted against the other teams top line and how many defensive end shifts he has to start in. This goes for any player. Just from the eye test, it seems the Blues were going to throw Faksa or Schenn out there in the defensive end depending on scenario. UNLESS they had to have a faceoff late. That's when Thomas seemed to get the call or it was Faksa but usually both would be out there incase one got dumped off the dot.

Thomas was definitely taking the majority of offensive zone faceoffs. Blues were lucky to have 3 good guys on the dot this year. Faksa was at 57 Thomas at 55 and Schenn at 52. Only Sunny was at 45. I'm sure a majority of teams aren't as blessed to have 3 guys on the positive side of that.

Just cause I was curious.... Thomas had 53.2 - 46.8 zone starts. Barkov had 59.8 - 40.2.

Faksa's was skewed far more heavily to the dzone at over 70%, but that's because he was not really expected to provide any offense.

was that offense first defense 2nd? That makes this conversation way more interesting. Because that would be a big plus for Thomas game.

Yeah that's offensive zone first. Here is how the Blues primary centers broke down:

Schenn: 54.4 - 45.6
Thomas: 53.2 - 46.8
Sundqvist: 39.3 - 60.7
Faksa: 26.6 - 73.4

Thomas had the most DZ faceoffs total at 485, so his percentage was more even but he was still our go-to guy in a lot of situations.

Interesting to compare to the other guys in the Selke race. In terms of total defensive zone faceoffs...

1. Barkov - 198 (!)
2. Reinhart - 295
3. Cirelli - 468
4. Hischier - 675

During the regular season Barkov was 4th on his own team behind Lundell, Reinhart, and Bennett, though they didn't have one outlier like Hischier with some insane number. Lundell had the most with 334.

On the other hand... during the playoffs Barkov is 1st on the Panthers, which speaks to who they want out there when it really counts.

[dr0zombie]

So Barkov wins the Selke. I’m not saying Thomas should win it but Thomas was 21G, 60A for 81 pts. and was +20 on the season. Barkov was 20G, 51A for 71 pts and +1. He was only plus 1! How is this possible? Again, not saying Thomas should win it, but how does Barkov get rated higher than Thomas?

Thomas is growing into a great player, and is getting to be known for his skills. Right now Barkov has the reputation and makes plays like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZr0fOwOMfo