Early Norris trophy candidates?

[Regal]

Yes, let's name off a bunch of .5 PPG D as comparisons. Well done.

Visnovsky led all defensemen in scoring with 68 points in '11, and finished 4th in Norris voting. Yandle was 3rd in points that same season and finished 5th in the Norris.

Going further, Carlson led defensemen in scoring in '19 and finished 4th, while Burns and Klingberg tied for 2nd, and finished 8th and 6th in Norris voting. Burns also finished 3rd in scoring in '15, yet was 21st in Norris voting. Karlsson led all defensmen in scoring by 13 points in '14 and yet was 7th in Norris voting.

 

[BigHitter67]

I think Hedman, Makar, and McAvoy are the clear leaders at this point.

Those are my top 3 contenders too.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Agreed Hedman,
I heard someone say Makar’s minutes are sheltered and favourable ozone starts., haven’t checked if true.

You heard wrong.

Believe it, or not, Hedman actually starts more often in the O-zone than Makar does.

 

[FinlandPanther]

Looks like Ekblad is going to get the plays in Florida treatment. I’ve been critical of him before but he’s gone to a new level this year. He’s been incredible on both ends.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Hedman should be the front runner for the award. He's firmly the best D in the league and eats the toughest minutes while producing borderline elite offense from the back end.

 

[Mogo]

Honestly, it's Makar right now and it's not really even all that close:

View attachment 399630

Hedman makes up some ground offensively:

View attachment 399633

McAvoy is a secondary assist machine apparently.


My Rankings would look like this:

1. Makar


2. Hedman
3. Hamilton
4. McAvoy


5. Doughty
6. Some others like Pionk, Petry...would need to check the #s.

Just outta interest can you make the same list and add Ekblad. See how he sizes up

 

[TheNumber4]

Pretty sure joe Thornton said matthews deserves it, and who am I to doubt joe Thornton

Lol vicious.

 

[Paul4587]

Makar jumps out to me as the current leader. McAvoy and Hedman are up there.

From a biased Ducks fan perspective Lindholm has been incredible for us this season and probably deserves some recognition. Only issue is he won’t be able to put up the offensive numbers on this team in order to garner any Norris attention - more often than not we are held to 2 goals or less.

 

[aufheben]

Honestly, it's Makar right now and it's not really even all that close:

View attachment 399630

Hedman makes up some ground offensively:

View attachment 399633

McAvoy is a secondary assist machine apparently.


My Rankings would look like this:

1. Makar


2. Hedman
3. Hamilton
4. McAvoy


5. Doughty
6. Some others like Pionk, Petry...would need to check the #s.

Did you just pick 5 players and then rank them? Kind of misleading.

 

[Paul4587]

Honestly, it's Makar right now and it's not really even all that close:

View attachment 399630

Hedman makes up some ground offensively:

View attachment 399633

McAvoy is a secondary assist machine apparently.


My Rankings would look like this:

1. Makar


2. Hedman
3. Hamilton
4. McAvoy


5. Doughty
6. Some others like Pionk, Petry...would need to check the #s.

I don’t disagree at all that Makar is the leader but you can’t just use a bunch of raw underlying metrics to justify that. Colorado is obviously going to have much better xGF and CF numbers than the likes of LA for example. So relative numbers are far more appropriate when assessing dmen and their impacts.

Not that using rel numbers in your case changes anything though. Doughty still comes out as no 5 on your list and I suspect as the season goes on his actual production will start to plummet as he’s riding a whole lot of favorable percentages right now.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

If Makar wins it, would he be the first to win the Calder and then the Norris in back to back seasons?

Makar and Hedman are my front runners

 

[PaulD]

Makar will his first of several.

 

[Mackinnonen]

Makar could still play a lot better which is crazy.

 

[BadgerBruce]

If Makar wins it, would he be the first to win the Calder and then the Norris in back to back seasons?

Makar and Hedman are my front runners

Orr did it. I don’t think anyone else ever has.

 

[Czechboy]

2 dog race right now.. Makar and Hedman... nice batttle for third spot!

 

[snipes]

Hedman is the front runner and likely deserves it, he is for me quite easily the best D man in the game. Every time I watch Tampa even with all of those great forwards, he stands out the most. What a superstar talent he has become.

Following Hedman I have Makar, Nurse, McAvoy, and Petry in no particular order rounding out the top 5.

Ekblad looked really good in a couple games I saw earlier in the year. Haven’t seen enough of Doughty to really judge his season, but have seen him a lot in the past being in the Pacific. Not entirely shocked, I think he’s still for a lot of hockey in him.

It’s crazy the season Nurse is have at both ends of the ice. He’s been an absolute monster and playing like an elite all situations two way D man.

But yeah, this likely goes to Hedman when it’s all said done.

 

[wintersej]

Hedman has a revolving door on his right of Rutta, Schenn, and Foote.

Most teams put their best RHD with their best LHD. Tampa puts its worst. Because we have Hedman.

Hedman should be on his third Norris. He will win his second.

I mean McAvoy is playing with a rookie drafted 6 years ago but OK

 

[oilers4life]

I really doubt many people are focused on hating Darnell Nurse. Flames fans, maybe.

oo trust me theres oiler fans that hate him and think hes bad

 

[Taishici]

Doughty has been the best defenseman this year SO far, and I am pretty confident in saying that.

Especially when you take everything into consideration. He's playing with a rookie partner and on a team that's trending in the right direction but is by no means elite.

Doughty leads the dmen on the Kings, in all catergories of ice time,( Even, PP, and PK) . How many other Norris contenders can say the same?

Oh and his stats are very similar to Hedman, despite being on a way worse team. Not that stats are everything.

Doughty has played really really well this year. Been dominant in both visible and subtle ways this year for the Kings.


What makes a defenseman worthy of the Norris can be a really interesting topic. I don't know if this place can every be mature enough to have a good discussion about though.


Other defenseman I have been impressed with.... Makar, McAvoy, Hedman, Faulk, Fox,

There are also some normal Norris contenders that have been a little disappointing so far this season.

Defenseman I want to see more of are.... Pionk, Nurse, and Ekblad.

 

[Critical13]

I don’t disagree at all that Makar is the leader but you can’t just use a bunch of raw underlying metrics to justify that. Colorado is obviously going to have much better xGF and CF numbers than the likes of LA for example. So relative numbers are far more appropriate when assessing dmen and their impacts.

Not that using rel numbers in your case changes anything though. Doughty still comes out as no 5 on your list and I suspect as the season goes on his actual production will start to plummet as he’s riding a whole lot of favorable percentages right now.

I looked at the TM rel and didn’t think they brought much to the discussion. I thought they would help Doughty the most but it wasn’t the case.

 

[Critical13]

Did you just pick 5 players and then rank them? Kind of misleading.

Feel free to post your own 5. I decided to use 4 that were in almost every post and then a fifth of my own (Hamilton).

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Where did Doughty come from? I thought he was on the path to washed up land

That's what happens when you don't actually watch a player.

 

[Czechboy]

Pionk,

I'm an Oil fan and everytime I we played the Jet's I hated Pionk... then I kept noticing I was kind of annoyed because he was crushing several of our good players and putting up points. Now I realize I love Pionk and wish he was an Oiler. If he keeps this up, the Jet's wont that trade tenfold.

 

[zar]

Nobody hates Nurse, he just isn't good enough to be in this conversation yet.

Of the categories I examined above, he was above those 5 players in 1 category - GF/60. I wonder if that has something to do with being on the ice with 2 generational players? He was easily the worst in most of the "against" stats, such as expected goals against and corsi against.

You mean the two worst defensive forwards in the game yet he so,ehow has very good defensive stats? Can’t have it both ways.

 

[Critical13]

You mean the two worst defensive forwards in the game yet he so,ehow has very good defensive stats? Can’t have it both ways.

oh damn! You said it, not me. That is for admitting it.