Columnist image

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

| Archive

Sean Couturier has always focused on the defensive side of his game. 

"It started in junior," the Philadelphia Flyers centre said. "My first year with Drummondville we went to the Memorial Cup, but I had more of a limited role playing third- and fourth-line minutes. I had Guy Boucher as a coach, so if I wanted to play I needed to be reliable out there. He needed to trust me."

Couturier, a consistent point producer in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League,​ wanted to be on the ice in the final minutes – whether his team was leading or trailing. ​​

"The best way to be out there is to gain the trust of your coach," he said. "And then coming into the NHL, it was kind of the same situation where we had a stacked lineup in Philly. If I wanted to play some minutes I needed to be reliable."

Couturier is now firmly entrenched among the best defensive forwards in the National Hockey League. He produced 59 points in 69 games this season while averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time a night with most of his shifts against top lines. He also won 59.6 per cent of his faceoffs.

Couturier helped Philadelphia surge to within one point of the Washington Capitals atop the Metropolitan Division before the league pressed pause on the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For a piece in The Athletic this week, TSN insider Pierre LeBrun polled 30 NHL coaches for their pick for the Selke Trophy, with 14 choosing Bruins pivot Patrice Bergeron, a four-time winner, and 10 going with Couturier. Blues centre Ryan O'Reilly, who claimed the prize last year, finished third with three votes. So, Couturier has a real chance to be named the league's top defensive forward for the first time. 

"I take pride in the defensive side of my game, so winning that award would be something special," Couturier said. "It'd be a great honour." 

Voting for the NHL awards ended on Monday, but Couturier's bid to dethrone Bergeron and O'Reilly has only just begun. If the season resumes, the Flyers are slated to face the Bruins during a round robin to determine Eastern Conference seeding. And Couturier believes Philadelphia can succeed St. Louis as Stanley Cup champions.

The 27-year-old spoke to TSN via Zoom this week to share his insight on what it's like to face the toughest offensive threats in the league. He also explained how Carter Hart and Kevin Hayes have made a positive impact on the Flyers dressing room. ​

The following is an edited transcript of the interview. 

What are you most proud of when it comes to your development? 

"Over the last three, four years, I've kind of stepped up offensively. With the defensive side of my game, since I came in the league I showed it, showed that I was pretty reliable, but I always thought I was more of an offensive guy coming out of juniors and being a high draft pick and people sometimes forgot about that. I always thought I could do more and I'm happy that these last few years I've been getting more opportunities offensively and stepping up on both sides of the ice and contributing in different ways." 

When it comes to being a two-way centre, Bergeron is considered the gold standard. What stands out to you about him? 

"He's definitely a special player. He's kind of the role-model player when you come into the league. If you want to be a solid, all-around player you kind of look up to him, [Anze] Kopitar, [Jonathan] Toews, those guys. But, he's really that guy. He doesn't really have any flaws in his game and it's always a big challenge going against him, always a tough matchup, because he doesn't have any flaws. It's almost like a chess match, where it's the first guy who's going to give up something. I always look forward to those types of challenges."

You are up for the Selke and Alain Vigneault is certainly a contender for the Jack Adams Award. What's the biggest change he implemented this season? 

"He brought a lot of experience with him. He's been twice, I think, over the last 10 years to the Stanley Cup final. He knows what it takes to win. He brought some pretty experienced assistant coaches with him [Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo], so we had a pretty experienced coaching staff. He knows what it takes to win, he knows what it takes to get there, and he brought us that. As the year went on we got better and better and that's what he wanted. It's unfortunate we were stopped, because we felt we were playing our best hockey at the right time."

What do you think the intensity of the round-robin games against Boston, Tampa Bay and Washington will be like?  

"It's going to be pretty good. We're getting re-seeded so, for us, it's a pretty nice scenario where we're ranked fourth so we can only move up. You want to have ... the last change in these circumstances. It's a huge part of the game if you can control the matchups and the tempo of the game, it can definitely help us down the road. So those three games will be really important."

You wouldn't be concerned about coming out of the round robin and facing a team that has won a hard-fought play-in series? 

"The emotional part of the game may be a bit advantaged to the team that played that elimination series, but at the same time, if you win in three or have a little break, I don't know. No matter what, it will come down to whoever's the most prepared and ready to go. There might be a little adaptation for us, maybe one game or a few periods, but down the road it can help us as well, so it goes both ways."

Alex Ovechkin failed to get even one point in four games against the Flyers this season and was minus-four. Philadelphia went 3-0-1 in those games. What did you do well against Ovechkin this season? 

"I don't know. It's been a while so it's hard to remember. I think we were pretty disciplined and on special teams, if I remember correctly, we were really good against them. Obviously, they have a really good power play and we did a good job limiting it. We stayed disciplined and we played some good hockey against them."

This will be Carter Hart's first taste of the NHL playoffs. What have you learned about him so far? 

"The sky's the limit with him. He has tremendous potential and he's mature for his age. He's mentally ready. He loves the game and is always looking for a way to improve and that's what you want to see from a young player, a young goalie. Hopefully he doesn't put too much pressure on himself and he can just go out there and play ... He's in his bubble and surrounded by goalie coaches, strength coaches, even mental coaches, so he tries to get every little edge that he can to reach his full potential. Sometimes young players don't look for those little things, but he's got it right away and is doing all the little things right."

How would you describe the impact free-agent addition Kevin Hayes made? 

"A huge acquisition, for sure. Everyone likes him in the room, a great guy to be around and he brings some depth and size down the middle. He's been a big part of our success."

He was named the funniest player in the recent fan vote. How would you describe his sense of humour? 


"He's got the full pre-game routine locked in and has nicknames for everyone, rituals. Even on the bench he likes to call himself, 'The Ref,' and make his own calls out there and judges the refs. He's a funny character. He's got these one-line jokes that he comes up with all the time. Everyone likes to be around him."

The fans in Philadelphia can be a factor, especially in the playoffs. What will it be like to play with no fans? 

"Once we get started and once you get dialled in to play for the Stanley Cup, I mean, once you're in a battle I don't think you really think about the fans or hear them, so I don't think it will be as bad as people think. But, obviously, it would be nice to have home-ice advantage where the fans are on your side and can sometimes make a difference on the game." 

Would you like to hear crowd noise piped in after a goal and stuff like that or would that be cheesy? 

"That'd be a little cheesy, personally. I don't know, honestly. I've never tried that, but that's my personal thought. I'd rather just play the game without worrying about extra sounds or whatever."

What question do you want to have answered before the season resumes? You guys will eventually have to vote on the Return To Play proposal. 

"There's still a lot of questions going around, but my main worry is, down the road, you know, you're going into a Game 6 or Game 7 and facing elimination and Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek test positive in the morning and they can't play that night. If they had the regular flu they'd probably play through it no matter what, but now this guy is asymptomatic, or has just a dry cough and you can't let him play. That can impact a series or the Stanley Cup winner. It will be interesting to see how they decide on what's going to happen if you test positive [especially] with all these false results. It's one of those things where we're all chasing a dream and to test positive and not be able to participate in those big games would be frustrating. So, that's one big question that needs to be resolved before we even get going." 

Is there any way that you can see that can be addressed? 

"I don't know, I'm not the expert. It's tough to say. If this thing is as bad as they say and that contagious there shouldn't be just one – there'll be four or five cases at once. You don't want to see four or five of your key players out of the lineup going into Game 7. If it happens to both teams, I don't know if fans will want to see all these star players not playing because of a virus."