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Wayne Simmonds, Ivan Provorov among Flyers' award winners

    by Sam Carchidi
    Published 

Right winger Wayne Simmonds won the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers' MVP and Ivan Provorov captured the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team's best defensemen before Saturday afternoon's game 4-2 win over Columbus at the Wells Fargo Center.

The awards were voted upon by the media.

Simmonds, 28, who leads the Flyers with 30 goals, became the first team's MVP other than Claude Giroux or Jake Voracek since 2009-10, when Chris Pronger won the award.

"It's nice, but I'd much rather make the playoffs," said Simmonds, who will lead the Flyers in goals for the fourth straight season.

Provorov, 20, emerged as the Flyers' No. 1 defenseman early in the season and has had an outstanding first year. He is the third rookie to ever win the Ashbee award. Norm Barnes (1979-80) and Shayne Gostisbehere (last season) were the other rookie winners.

"It was a huge honor," said Provorov, the youngest Ashbee winner in franchise history. "Lots of good defensemen won this award in the past. I couldn't have done this alone without my teammates and all the D partners I have played with, so just a huge thanks to them."

Added Provorov: "We will keep getting better. I will keep getting better."

Several other awards were presented:

Yanick Dupre Class Guy Memorial Award: Steve Mason.

Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (most improved, voted upon by players): Radko Gudas.

Gene Hart Memorial Award (given to the player who shows the most "heart," as voted upon by the fan club's board of directors directors) : Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

Toyota Cup (based on points for the "Stars of the Game" during the season): Simmonds.

Breakaways. Simmonds had six shots on goal and five hits in Saturday's win, while Brayden Schenn had two assists, and Claude Giroux won seven of eight faceoffs…..Losing goalie Sergei Bobrovsky entered the game with an 8-1 record, a 1.65 goals-against average, and a .945 save percentage against the Flyers, his former team….Sean Couturier is plus-18 since Feb. 25…..Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella on his team's sluggish performance in a meaningless game: "I'm not going to dissect my team because it's so hard in these circumstances."