Dahlin/Makar/Hughes Combined Norris Wins (This Decade)

[Gurglesons]

2. Especially given how the voters treat the Norris.

 

[Dr Salt]

I'll vote three. Plenty of players to start the decade who still have some prime left in them and finish the decade we won't know. Dougie Hamilton will have plenty of prime left and Carolina's defense hurting without him truly showed hockey fans his impact. Adam Fox, Miro Heiskanen, and Charlie McAvoy absolutely have Norris potential in them. So I will generously give three. The Norris is a tough award to win multiple times.

 

[Merrrlin]

I don't think Makar or Hughes will win one, so I will say 2-3 for Dahlin.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I think your premise definitely makes some sense. There are a lot of good defenceman not listed in this poll.

I wasn’t on this board around Myers and Phaneuf’s rookie season. Was the hype around them similar to Hughes/Makar?

I think Myers' hype was a bit higher than Makar. Makar had way more expectations coming into his rookie year, people had seen him in the playoffs the year before and knew what he could do at the NHL level. Myers went 12th in his draft but you can make an argument that it was one of the most loaded classes of all time for D prospects. When he was drafted he was seen as a bit of a project because of how gangly he was, needing to fill in, but his potential was completely untapped with his size and skating ability. He hadn't even broken out offensively when he was drafted, and there were questions about his decision making. He had a monster year the year after his draft year though where he completely broke out in all facets, and also won Gold at the WJC so his hype ramped up considerably going into his rookie year.

I think what Myers did in his rookie year was seen as a lot more impressive than Makar. At 19 he became the Sabres #1 D-man right away in literally every situation and posted numbers that wouldn't have looked out of place for a Norris candidate (even though he finished 15th in voting that year). And they won their division that year with 100 points so it wasn't like it was a Chabot-like situation. You had Chara winning the Norris the year before so the thought was here's a guy that is the 2nd tallest player in the league, and unlike Chara he can absolutely fly, so what's his potential? By eye test I think it was kind of comparable to how people view Makar's quick twitch skating ability. People see so much potential in that, but with Myers it was how much he could develop into a dominant #1 with his size and skating ability, building on how good he already looked.

Phaneuf was much more hyped than all of them if you factor in what he did after his first few years. He was a top 10 pick, was able to consistently ramp up in Junior with the lockout, played on a legendary WJC team, and in an era after the lockout before analytics really became what they did, he was the easily the #1 young D in the league. Booming shot, tough as nails, and massive hits, people just loved his game. If you took a poll at the time for players you would most want to build around, he's probably there at #4 right after Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin. People REALLY started to pick apart his game after his rookie contract though. It was a pretty steep fall.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I think Myers' hype was a bit higher than Makar. Makar had way more expectations coming into his rookie year, people had seen him in the playoffs the year before and knew what he could do at the NHL level. Myers went 12th in his draft but you can make an argument that it was one of the most loaded classes of all time for D prospects. When he was drafted he was seen as a bit of a project because of how gangly he was, needing to fill in, but his potential was completely untapped with his size and skating ability. He hadn't even broken out offensively when he was drafted, and there were questions about his decision making. He had a monster year the year after his draft year though where he completely broke out in all facets, and also won Gold at the WJC so his hype ramped up considerably going into his rookie year.

I think what Myers did in his rookie year was seen as a lot more impressive than Makar. At 19 he became the Sabres #1 D-man right away in literally every situation and posted numbers that wouldn't have looked out of place for a Norris candidate (even though he finished 15th in voting that year). And they won their division that year with 100 points so it wasn't like it was a Chabot-like situation. You had Chara winning the Norris the year before so the thought was here's a guy that is the 2nd tallest player in the league, and unlike Chara he can absolutely fly, so what's his potential?

Phaneuf was much more hyped than all of them if you factor in what he did after his first few years. He was a top 10 pick, was able to consistently ramp up in Junior with the lockout, played on a legendary WJC team, and in an era after the lockout before analytics really became what they did, he was the easily the #1 young D in the league. Booming shot, tough as nails, and massive hits, people just loved his game. If you took a poll at the time for players you would most want to build around, he's probably there at #4 right after Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin. People REALLY started to pick apart his game after his rookie contract though. It was a pretty steep fall.

Yeah, I LOVED Phaneuf in his Calgary days. He was such a fun player to watch. He had so many game-changing skills. I was never even close to as high on Myers. Not sure why, because he certainly had an awesome rookie season.

 

[majormajor]

I think what Myers did in his rookie year was seen as a lot more impressive than Makar. At 19 he became the Sabres #1 D-man right away in literally every situation and posted numbers that wouldn't have looked out of place for a Norris candidate (even though he finished 15th in voting that year).

I'm not sure if I've seen the Norris ballots yet, but I think Makar might have done better than #15? In any case, I think we pick apart players more these days with advanced stats. Tyler Myers and Dion Phaneuf's rookie seasons would be seen now as super promising but not as all-there-now. Don't forget that there was a time when people thought that Jack Johnson was a #1 D-man.

 

[majormajor]

I'll vote three. Plenty of players to start the decade who still have some prime left in them and finish the decade we won't know. Dougie Hamilton will have plenty of prime left and Carolina's defense hurting without him truly showed hockey fans his impact. Adam Fox, Miro Heiskanen, and Charlie McAvoy absolutely have Norris potential in them. So I will generously give three. The Norris is a tough award to win multiple times.

Given how the Norris voting usually goes it's very hard for a 50 pt D-man to challenge an 80 pt D-man. Heiskanen and McAvoy are not big scorers. Dahlin and Makar are big scorers. I could see 80 or maybe even 100 pts in their future. They absolutely should be expected to win many Norris trophies.

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

Meant to vote three - 2 for Dahlin, 1 for Hughes

 

[Dr Salt]

Given how the Norris voting usually goes it's very hard for a 50 pt D-man to challenge an 80 pt D-man. Heiskanen and McAvoy are not big scorers. Dahlin and Makar are big scorers. I could see 80 or maybe even 100 pts in their future. They absolutely should be expected to win many Norris trophies.

If one could show a strong defensive performance one could win. They still have a lot to grow.

 

[Kcb12345]

I wanna say 6 but that's a lot...was gonna say 2 each. Instead I'll say Dahlin wins 2, Makar 2, Hughes 1, and other dmen take the rest. I think it'll be a few years still before we see any of them win the Norris however.

 

[CatchyTune]

People are way overshooting it here. This past decade we only saw 2 repeat winners (Keith in 2010 and 2014, Karlsson in 2012 and 2015). Plus these guys are all very young, so they might take a couple years before they really become contenders.

I'v never liked the way the Norris gets awarded, it usually favors points over actual defence. As offensive defencemen, Makar and Hughes should get a good amount of points, but unless they improve defensively they shouldnt win a norris.

Dahlin absolutely should, I think he gets 2-3 this decade. He is spectacular and by far the best on this poll.

Heiskanen is another name that should win at least 1. I think he is/will be better than Makar/Hughes.

Carlson is 30, Josi is 30, Hedman is 29, Pietrangelo is 30, those guys still have elite years left no doubt.

Along with Heiskanen I see Adam Fox, Dougie Hamilton, Seth Jones, Thomas Chabot, Jaccob Slavin, and Colton Parayko as some other potential threats to win this decade.

With just so many great young defenceman in this league I have a very hard time seeing this group win 5 or more. I voted 3 to be on the safe side, and IMO all 3 of those could be Dahlin himself. But of course we will see the NHL award through offense and give Makar/Hughes a defenceman of the year for scoring 80 points. We'll see.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Jones, McAvoy, and more. It will be a difficult trophy to win.

 

[majormajor]

If one could show a strong defensive performance one could win. They still have a lot to grow.

Heiskanen just put in a monster year defensively and isn't even in the convo.

 

[jetsforever]

Way too early to lock these guys in for Norrises, but I'll generously go with 3 (mostly assuming Dahlin will live up to the hype).

 

[Paul4587]

I can see Dahlin getting a couple. Hughes I don’t think will win any and Makar I think gets 1 at most.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

42. Since that's the answer to life, the universe, and everything.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Just induct all of them into the HoF right now, why wait?

 

[aufheben]

I’ll say 2.

 

[CraigsList]

I went with 3. 4-6 is possible, but I would have liked Heiskanen added in there.

 

[AKL]

I think Dahlin wins 2 and Makar wins 1. I doubt Hughes wins any, but I voted for just in case any of them gets an additional one.

 

[EXTRAS]

Add heiskanen to this group.