Early Norris favorites

[Kevs Security]

Karlsson has been really good this season. Lowest PDO in the team. He just hasn't been lucky, but once the points start to pile up again, he will win the Norris. Again.

 

[BigEezyE22]

Burns or Karlsson, the sharks are STOMPING fools with them driving the bus

They're a game and a half above .500. Stomping fools, they are not.

 

[Jumptheshark]

this will be a fun thread

 

[FinnishCoyote]

I think OEL will be in the race this year, he has started this season very strong

 

[neXis]

Chabot won't get a single vote for 1st if he is nominated. Subban right now looks like he's on fire. It will changed as the season picks up.

 

[MrThomas]

I think Ekblad could win the Norris this year!

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Carlson's piling up the points again and playing 26 minutes a game. If that kind of production holds I think he will get heavy consideration.

 

[Unspecified]

Klingberg has 11 points in 10 games and has a TOI average of 25 min a game.

 

[CupsOverCash]

TVR...

 

[NyQuil]

Chabot won't get a single vote for 1st if he is nominated.

Just being nominated would be quite a feat for a second-year guy with 74 total GP under his belt.

13 points in 10 games (good for 3rd among d-men) and a +1 on a leaky Senators team, and he's playing with a great deal of poise and confidence, like a true top-pairing guy.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

Reilly is 46th in Average TOI per game, 5 minutes behind the leader Doughty. All the big boys are around 25-26 minutes a game and Reilly is at 22... if that trend continues there's no way he should be in the conversation.

If Rielly played as much as Doughty he'd be leading the league in points.

 

[joe dirte]

Nobody. Too early in the year. As we've seen , all it takes is a hot month or so at the end of the season [even though you sucked the first 60 games] to win it.

Huh?

 

[joe dirte]

Chabot won't get a single vote for 1st if he is nominated. Subban right now looks like he's on fire. It will changed as the season picks up.

if he's nominated?

You know there are no actual nominations right? And the "finalists" are not really finalists, they're just the top 3 vote getters.

 

[blood gin]

Insanely early but, Damon Severson has played great.

 

[BigEezyE22]

Any list omitting Letang this year is incomplete.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Lots of love for Chabot so far in this thread.

I don't think he's had the two way game to warrant a Norris win. That's not me saying he's been bad, but he's not been number 1D in the league good in his own zone.

If he ends up with 70-80 points, and the other high scoring D cool off, then I could see him making some noise in the voting. He's going to have a hard time winning due to the Sens probably not making the playoffs.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I mentioned Karlsson's poor start to the season relative to Burns, but it's also important to note that Burns shouldn't lose votes because of Karlsson being on the same team as him.

I can understand that argument when it comes to an award like the Hart Trophy, where the trophy has always been awarded based on the value a player provides relative to the value that his teammates provide, rather than merely the value that a player provides.

But in this case, the Norris has never been that award. Although Burns and Karlsson have both previously won this award and finished high in Hart Trophy voting as guys who provided extremely high value relative to a poor set of teammates that wouldn't have sniffed the playoffs without them, they don't need to do that in order to win the Norris. They just have to be the best defenseman in the NHL. And so far, Brent Burns has been.

I agree, but there is precedent for that. I think EK and Burns are better than Josi and Subban but those guys and Weber/Suter could be argued to have lost votes for similar reasons. Though as you point out they also had their own Norris Trophies separately first (with Josi/Subban only PK had one).

If Rielly played as much as Doughty he'd be leading the league in points.

Wow! Why doesn't he just play 60 minutes a game then? And why have no other coaches figured out that just flat out increasing ice time would do that?

 

[Bizz]

Burns.

Been tearing it up Offensively and except for Game 1 vs Anaheim has been great Defensively too.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Letang is playing some of the best hockey of his career. Big minutes and he’s all over the ice making smart plays.

 

[Cor]

I'll toss out a name not mentioned;

Mattias Ekholm.
11 games played, 8 points, +6, 3 game-winning points (tied for 1st among D). All of his points have come at even strength or short-handed. (no one else in the top 20 of defensive scoring has scored less than 10% of their points on the powerplay).

 

[Soundgarden]

I'll toss out a name not mentioned;

Mattias Ekholm.
11 games played, 8 points, +6, 3 game-winning points (tied for 1st among D). All of his points have come at even strength or short-handed. (no one else in the top 20 of defensive scoring has scored less than 10% of their points on the powerplay).

He's been Nashville's best defender so far this year.

 

[tony d]

John Carlson's been looking good thus far.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Not that he'll contend for 1st place, but I wonder if this is the year Jaccob Slavin starts really amassing some votes. The word is out about his impact on the Canes, and that impact is translating into wins now. He's had fringe votes the past couple of years, so it seems like this might be where he turns the corner into a top-10 finish.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Definitely no clear frontrunner whatsoever. Carlson looks the most likely as of right now.

 

[RangerDoggo]

Insanely early but, Damon Severson has played great.

Not a Norris candidate, but he has been very impressive this year.