I'm not as concerned about awards as how they actually played the game. The problem with awards is that it punishes those who played in stronger eras. Tim Horton was a first team all-star defenceman with Bobby Orr twice. Park was a first team all-star five times. In three of those years, Orr was the other defenceman. In the other two, Potvin was the best defenceman.
When you look at Lidstrom's three Norris seasons, the runners-up were Bourque, Chelios and MacInnis. Stevens finished third in balloting. Reality is that the depth on the blue line is the weakest its been in decades.
Lidstrom is a sure-fire top 15 defenceman who deserves consideration for the top 10. I think eight is a little early for him, but it's not as bad as say, Stevens, MacInnis or Leetch for the top 10. We should only be discussing the addition of those players now. MacInnis added before Earl Seibert? No bloody way.
I don't think Lidstrom is the best defenceman remaining on this list. I don't think Coffey is, either. If given the choice, I'd take Coffey, but it's by no means a slam dunk. I think a lot of Lidstrom's support is from people voting against Coffey, and vice versa.
My preferred pick right now? Chelios. Outside of the top five, and it's a consensus top five, I can't think of a defenceman who dominated all aspects of the game like Chelios, and did it for such a long period of time. He's still a strong defensive defenceman. In 2001-02, at age 40, he nearly beat Lidstrom in a close race for the Norris. He's capable of carrying a team on his back for extended periods of time. As good as Lidstrom is defensively, Chelios was better, and much more physical.
My other pick at this point? Fetisov. Those of us in North America never saw the best of Slava Fetisov. Except in the Canada Cup. He was always one of the top two defencemen in any tournament he played in during his prime. Wonderfully skilled. Many will tell you he was the second best defenceman to play in the 1980s, after Bourque. And vicious, too. Don't let those low PIM totals in Russia fool you. He could use the stick for much more than great outlet passes and quarterbacking the power play.