Early Norris trophy candidates?

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Hedman will be tough to beat. I think McAvoy and Makar will give him a fight for that award. I’m going with Charlie Mac.

 

[LokiDog]

... Josh Norris?

 

[pb1300]

If people want to mention Hedman, then they need to mention Ekblad as well.

The numbers are similar. The biggest difference is...Hedman’s oZS is at 60%, Ekblad is at 42%. So Ekblad puts up similar, if not better stats, with 20% less offensive zone starts.

 

[rocketdan9]

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.

Fox is so annoying. But clever and smart like a fox

I was impressed by his game. That dive headfirst behind the goalie to prevent Marchand goal... that was nuts

 

[rocketdan9]

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

Its not everyday a player is in washed up land conversation. Then turns back time

Thats like saying Letang or Karlsson have re emerged again

Lets see if old man Drew can keep this up

 

[PAZ]

I'd rather Makar win it after signing his huge contract with the Avs.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

If people want to mention Hedman, then they need to mention Ekblad as well.

View attachment 399921

The numbers are similar. The biggest difference is...Hedman’s oZS is at 60%, Ekblad is at 42%. So Ekblad puts up similar, if not better stats, with 20% less offensive zone starts.

Sure, but ofc you left out the numbers that arent similar - points

 

[Civetty]

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.

It would make me happy if Lindholm or a similar player won it, but it's never going to happen.

 

[pb1300]

Sure, but ofc you left out the numbers that arent similar - points

OMG a whopping 6 points behind. Wonder if Ekblad can make up some of that huge difference, if his oZS was similar to Makar and Hedman.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

OMG a whopping 6 points behind. Wonder if Ekblad can make up some of that huge difference, if his oZS was similar to Makar and Hedman.

Well yeah, with one game less played as well. Ooooh I bet he would, Ekblads offense has always been on par with Hedman and other 1 PPG D's

 

[pb1300]

Well yeah, with one game less played as well. Ooooh I bet he would, Ekblads offense has always been on par with Hedman and other 1 PPG D's

Who cares what their prior offenses has been. If that’s the case, who did Hedman play with on the PP, and who did Ekblad? Regardless, it’s about this year. And Ekblad’s numbers are right there with the other top Dmen in the league.

And since the Norris is obviously based on who gets the most points, why is Makar in the conversation?

 

[TheKingPin]

He hardly has to play defence, partly due to his ability, partly due to his linemates.

Who are his most frequent linemates?

 

[klozge]

Who cares what their prior offenses has been. If that’s the case, who did Hedman play with on the PP, and who did Ekblad? Regardless, it’s about this year. And Ekblad’s numbers are right there with the other top Dmen in the league.

And since the Norris is obviously based on who gets the most points, why is Makar in the conversation?

Because 0.92 P/G are pretty good.

 

[loosemoose]

McAvoy, Makar and Hedman are good consensus picks right now, but Shea Theodore is undervalued here. Also as insane as it sounds, Rasmus Ristolainen has been excellent, although Sabres are so bad that he's never going to get into this discussion.

 

[Kazcram]

i miss the days where the norris winner for top defenseman was a player who played most minutes , played most pp time and most pk time , all because they were the best D man in all facets of the game. Now its mostly an award given by looking at the point totals . Bothers me to be honest because if thats the case there should be a Bobby Orr award .

 

[pb1300]

i miss the days where the norris winner for top defenseman was a player who played most minutes , played most pp time and most pk time , all because they were the best D man in all facets of the game. Now its mostly an award given by looking at the point totals . Bothers me to be honest because if thats the case there should be a Bobby Orr award .

Nope. It’s all about points now.

 

[FanTheFlames]

1:Makar
2:Hedman
3 Petry
4:McAvoy

 

[Critical13]

i miss the days where the norris winner for top defenseman was a player who played most minutes , played most pp time and most pk time , all because they were the best D man in all facets of the game. Now its mostly an award given by looking at the point totals . Bothers me to be honest because if thats the case there should be a Bobby Orr award .

Playing the most minutes could be deceiving, though. I am pretty sure Phaneuf was near the top of the league in TOI for a while during his decline.

 

[DeysArena]

i miss the days where the norris winner for top defenseman was a player who played most minutes , played most pp time and most pk time , all because they were the best D man in all facets of the game. Now its mostly an award given by looking at the point totals . Bothers me to be honest because if thats the case there should be a Bobby Orr award .

Tracking points is easy. Tracking that other stuff takes work.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Brodin shouldn’t win but he’s in the top 10 conversation for me this season.

 

[Critical13]

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

Here ya go:

He only leads one category but is pretty competitive otherwise.

Ekblad might be able to make a good cases by continuing to score goals, something he has been the best of the group at:

Ekblad's relative to teammate numbers don't help his case, though.

This is all 5v5, though. It doesn't take into account how players are affecting the game through PK or PP. There might be something in those numbers which sway things. For me, Makar is still a clear stand out.

 

[BKarchitect]

I see all this bellyaching about "the Norris winner shouldn't be about points, it should be the guy who logs huge minutes, is trusted in crunch time for a good team and does everything on special teams". I am assuming this whole line of thinking is being brought up because of Makar and that is what is bothering people?

If so - then I'm not sure what Cale needs to do at this point since he's been averaging 26-27 minutes a night and is now a regular on the PK in addition to all the spectacular offensive, puck control and shot generation stuff he does.

Hedman, Makar and McAvoy are doing ALL the things for their team - how any of them can draw an ire for not being worth of what the Norris SHOULD be for is silly and just complaining for the sake of complaining. I think there's a great crop of all-around defensemen doing their thing this year - there's not going to be some "only puts up points and plays on one side of the ice" winner this season.

My money's still on Hedman FWIW.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

McAvoy has been great for Boston, certainly a contender but Hedman has to be the favourite, guy is an all around beast.

 

[MrOT]

Hedman, Makar at the top. Doughty will get votes if he keeps this up and LA makes the playoffs. McAvoy, Petry , and Maybe Nurse close by.

just hope it won't end with yet another Drew is due-award...

 

[The Macho King]

Also a bit more on Hedman.

His on-ice save percentage is sub .900 (on a team where Vasi has over .930 and McBackup has only played two games). He's getting some shit luck for sure on that metric. xGA doesn't look great because again - he plays a ton of minutes with Rutta, Schenn, and a guy with less than 10 games of NHL experience.

Despite that, on the PK I think he's only been on the ice for one goal - and he's a top PK option (obviously). Offensively he's great. Defensively he's been great but there's only so much you can do when your partner is serving up freebies in front of the net. With Kucherov out, our PP has flowed through him and it is still really good.