In today’s Boston Bruins’ News & Rumors, we look at Patrice Bergeron earning his ninth-consecutive Selke Trophy finalist nod, one of the Bruins’ playoff games being rescheduled and Jake DeBrusk gave an update on David Pastrnak.
Bergeron Names Selke Trophy Finalist
Another year, another Selke Trophy-level season for Bergeron in Boston.
The Trophy annually awarded to “the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game,” the Selke Trophy and Bergeron have become almost synonymous with each other over the past decade. This is largely due to the fact that Bergeron has been a finalist for the award a record nine-times (all of which coming in the last nine years).
Bergeron is tied with Bob Gainey for the most Selke wins with four apiece and he could become the sole-possessor of that distinction should he win the award in 2020.
The two competitors for Bergeron this year ad Philadelphia Flyers’ center Sean Couturier and St. Louis Blues Center Ryan O’Reilly. If O’Reilly wins the Award this season, he’ll become the first back-to-back Selke winner since Bergeron who would do so in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively.
This is just one of many awards that Bruins have taken home or have been named finalists for as the team would win the Presidents’ Trophy, Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak would win the William M. Jennings Trophy, David Pastrnak would be named a co-winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy, Rask is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy and Bruce Cassidy is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award.
Bruins Game Against Capitals Rescheduled
When hockey does eventually resume in August, the Bruins will be competing in a round-robin tournament to determine seeding between the top four teams in the Eastern Conference.
The teams’ final game of this round-robin tournament against the Washington Capitals was supposed to come on Aug. 8. This is no longer the case as the NHL has rescheduled this game to take place on Aug. 8 instead, which gives the Bruins another day to prepare for a Washington team who have had the Bruins’ number in recent years.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning would have their game moved from Aug. 9 and will now be played on Aug. 8.
The full updated schedule for the Bruins in the round-robin tournament is as follows:
- Bruins vs. Flyers on Aug. 2 (3 p.m. ET)
- Bruins vs Lightning on Aug. 5 (4 p.m. ET)
- Bruins vs Capitals on Aug. 9 (TBA)
The official start of the first round of the playoffs starts on Aug. 11, which will give the Bruins at least one day of rest in between their final round robin game and their first playoff game.
Jake DeBrusk Gives Update on David Pastrnak
For many Bruins fans, there has been concern about when their top-line right winger in Pastrnak will be able to skate with the team at training camp. Due to protocol, Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase’s inclusion in training camp has been delayed, but that hasn’t kept the reigning co-winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy down.
“From what I’ve talked to him, he seems like he’s in good spirits,” DeBrusk said Monday on his teammate. “Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation, but from what I’ve talked to him, he’s still Pasta. He’s still doing his thing. I’m not worried about him at all, to be honest with you.”
There’s likely no reason for concern with Pastrnak being available to the Bruins in the playoffs, but time is ticking on whether or not he’ll return to the team before Sunday when the Bruins have to travel to Toronto.
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Still, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to doubt that he’ll be with the Bruins beforehand and for now, all anybody can do is wait as Pastrnak (and Kase) conclude their rounds of testing and eventually get cleared to return.