it was funner the first time Karlsson won the norris, now a lot of people actually accepted the fact he is good. A lot less tears to enjoy.
Scary thought: he can play even better than this.
I would've had Doughty on my ballot but this guy's making it seem completely unacceptable that he wasn't on those 20 ballots. It's really not. Karlsson, Subban, Weber, Josi, Giordano, Letang and Keith were all reasonable players to put on a ballot ahead of him. Unlike Doughty, they all made the playoffs; it's not crazy to think some voters have that as a characteristic they need from the players they vote for.
He won the Norris despite being mediocre in the first 25% of the season. If he can routinely play like the last 2/3-3/4 of the season, I feel bad for all the other candidates.
Let's be real here though. What clinched it for him was his amazing finish to the season and how him, Stone and Hammond willed the team into the playoffs. The media took notice and that's why all three were nominated for awards. Karlsson won because the media finally recognizes that he's our team MVP and the offense flows through him. This Norris is a recognition of his worth to Ottawa.
I think a big reason for those dominant games in the lockout year was the crazy amount of confidence a young player like him had after winning a Norris.
I think it's just people recognizing that to do what he does without being insulated like the others is what sets him apart.
Price and Markov play a huge role in Subban's success. Huge.
Doughty is insulated by that Cup winning roster (Kopitar, Carter, Quick) and coach.
Keith - well it's obvious.
Karlsson is essentially alone. Stone and Turris are great but not great like the other supporting casts, not even close. Karlsson plays both the biggest offensive and biggest defensive role for his team, and he kills it despite quite an average supporting cast. Nobody else can do what he does - nobody has as high an impact as he does.
I think it's just people recognizing that to do what he does without being insulated like the others is what sets him apart.
Price and Markov play a huge role in Subban's success. Huge.
Doughty is insulated by that Cup winning roster (Kopitar, Carter, Quick) and coach.
Keith - well it's obvious.
Karlsson is essentially alone. Stone and Turris are great but not great like the other supporting casts, not even close. Karlsson plays both the biggest offensive and biggest defensive role for his team, and he kills it despite quite an average supporting cast. Nobody else can do what he does - nobody has as high an impact as he does.
I agree with the overall sentiment of your post. I will say though, going forward, that he is going to have a pretty good supporting cast. Stone was as good as ANY player in the league over the last 35-40 games of the season. And I don't really see that changing next year.
Down the stretch, when it really counted, he was as good as any of them. Better, come to think of it.He's not Toews, not Kane, not Kopitar, not even Pacioretty... not yet. Not over the course of a whole season.
But I agree that Stone can be that. Hopefully the Sens take the next step forward because of it.
Conspiracy theory!
Bruce Arthur @bruce_arthur · 3h3 hours ago
Congratulations to the 20 Erik Karlsson voters who left Drew Doughty completely off their ballot
One of the responses was that Karlsson was left off 11 ballots. I guess Bruce didn't think to count those ones.