Nico Hischier didn’t win the Selke Trophy conversation last season, but the numbers paint a much stronger case for the Devils captain than most people gave him credit for.
Hischier has been tied to that award discussion since he entered the league in 2017. His defensive game was never really in question, even when the offense took time to catch up. Once he developed into one of the league’s better centers, it felt like the Selke might eventually be his.
That idea got louder when Patrice Bergeron retired. Hischier finished second in Selke voting that year. Then, with Aleksander Barkov sidelined last season, the door opened again.
But New Jersey’s season went sideways, and that dragged Hischier’s profile down with it. Even so, he remained one of the few Devils who showed up consistently. He still landed in the top 10 in Selke voting, though he was nowhere near the center of the Nick Suzuki discussion.
Suzuki had a massive year for Montreal, finishing with 101 points and a +37 rating. He piled up 72 assists, stayed involved in every situation, and did it against tough competition - the kind of resume that usually gets Selke attention.
The problem is that a closer look shows the gap between the two centers wasn’t as simple as the raw production suggested. According to Natural Stat Trick, Hischier and Suzuki were on the ice for almost the exact same amount of 5-on-5 time last season. Hischier logged 1,201 minutes, and Suzuki played just two more.
In those minutes, Hischier came out ahead in several important areas: on-ice chances, chances against, xGF, xGA, high-danger chances, high-danger chances against, and faceoff percentage. Hischier also led the league in faceoffs won.
Where Suzuki separated himself was in goals. His line was on the ice for 72 goals.
Hischier’s line was on for 37. Suzuki’s group also got to more shots and finished with nearly twice as many goals.
That difference starts with shooting luck. Suzuki’s on-ice shooting percentage was 12.44%. If Hischier had gotten that same rate, his line would have scored 75 goals instead of 37.
The chance-quality split makes the case even clearer. Hischier was on the ice for 809 low-danger chances, and those led to just three goals.
Suzuki was on for 89 fewer low-danger chances, but his team scored three times as many goals in those situations. Defensively, the Devils allowed 10 low-danger goals on just 682 low-danger shots, while Suzuki was on the ice for only four low-danger goals against.
The medium-danger numbers widen the gap too. Hischier was on the ice for 12 goals in those chances, while Suzuki was on for 36.
That’s the real story here. The Devils were living on high-danger looks, and even that was mostly about volume. Hischier also took the brunt of the defensive-zone work, starting there 472 times compared to Suzuki’s 335 defensive-zone starts.
At the same time, the finishing around him just wasn’t there. The line needed better conversion from Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer, and Hischier himself has to finish more often, too.
So yes, the headline carries some heat. But the numbers back up the basic point: there’s a strong argument that Hischier had a better season than the player who ended up winning the Selke Trophy.
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