Norris finalists on non-playoff teams

[Big Phil]

Doughty was closer to the Norris than any dman on a non-playoff team ever, and people are still crying Eastern bias? Seriously?

If anything, he benefited from the feeling that he was robbed of the Conn Smythe last year and got a bunch of make up votes.

I kind of cocked my head a bit when I heard the finalists announced this year.................Karlsson, alright no issues there..........Doughty, hmmm, alright.........Subban............I suppose so. I don't see how Keith and Weber couldn't have been there over them. Yes I agree that this whole idea of Doughty being the best player in the NHL at one time (last year's playoffs they screamed it, which was very much a heat of the moment thing) and then he was ranked #2 in the Hockey News this past year behind only Crosby. So I think this helped him.

Even if you were looking just solely at numbers, Doughty has less goals and just one more point for Keith on a team out of the playoffs compared to Keith being the vital cog on a 100+ point team.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Updated for 2016:

1953-54: Bill Gadsby - 3rd in voting (Chicago)
1958-59: Bill Gadsby - 2nd in voting (New York Rangers)
1958-59: Marcel Pronovost - 3rd in voting (Detroit)
1966-67: Bobby Orr - 3rd in voting (Boston)
1967-68: Tim Horton - 3rd in voting (Toronto)
2013-14: Shea Weber - 3rd in voting (Nashville)
2014-15: Drew Doughty - 2nd in voting (Los Angeles)
2015-16: Erik Karlsson - 2nd in voting (Ottawa)

* 1975-76: Brad Park - 2nd in voting. Played 13 games for the New York Rangers who missed, traded to Boston, which made the playoffs.

Erik Karlsson was the Norris trophy runner-up. The Ottawa Senators were well out of playoff contention, finishing 11 points out of the second wild card spot. As I noted in another recent thread, he had a historical season offensively. I'd imagine he would have won the Norris if the Senators made the postseason.

The historical trends are interesting. It wasn't uncommon for defensemen on non-playoff teams to contend for the Norris trophy in the Original Six era (or just after expansion). Then, for over forty years, there wasn't a single finalist from a non-playoff team. This is at least partly due to so many teams qualifying for the postseason during that era.

We've now seen three non-playoff finalists in the past three seasons. Does that mean that voters are discounting the importance of making the postseason? Or do Doughty and Karlsson failing to win the Norris in 2015 and 2016 (respectively) show that, no matter how good a season a blueliner has, they can never win the Norris if they don't make the playoffs?

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Updated for 2017:

We can now add Victor Hedman to the list. He finished 3rd in Norris voting, and Tampa Bay missed the playoffs by a single point.

It goes to show you that long-standing traditions can be overturned quickly in sports (and in life). I created this thread in January 2014 and, at the time, you would have had to travel back 46 years to find a Norris finalist on a non playoff team. Now we've seen it happen four years in a row!

 

[Hockey Outsider]

No updates for 2018. All three Norris finalists were on playoff teams.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

No updates for 2019. All three Norris finalists were on playoff teams.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Adam Fox won the Norris trophy. He's the first player in the history of the trophy to win it on a non-playoff team.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Updated for 2023:

• 1953-54: Bill Gadsby - 3rd in voting (Chicago)
• 1958-59: Bill Gadsby - 2nd in voting (New York Rangers)
• 1958-59: Marcel Pronovost - 3rd in voting (Detroit)
• 1966-67: Bobby Orr - 3rd in voting (Boston)
• 1967-68: Tim Horton - 3rd in voting (Toronto)
• 2013-14: Shea Weber - 3rd in voting (Nashville)
• 2014-15: Drew Doughty - 2nd in voting (Los Angeles)
• 2015-16: Erik Karlsson - 2nd in voting (Ottawa)
• 2016-17: Victor Hedman - 3rd in voting (Tampa Bay)
• 2020-21: Adam Fox - Norris winner (NY Rangers)
• 2022-23: Erik Karlsson - Norris winner (San Jose)

For 46 years, every Norris finalist was on a playoff team. Now over the past decade, we've had six Norris finalists from non-playoff teams, including the first two winners in the league's history.

* 1975-76: Brad Park - 2nd in voting. Played 13 games for the New York Rangers who missed, traded to Boston, which made the playoffs.

 

[MS]

Updated for 2023:

• 1953-54: Bill Gadsby - 3rd in voting (Chicago)
• 1958-59: Bill Gadsby - 2nd in voting (New York Rangers)
• 1958-59: Marcel Pronovost - 3rd in voting (Detroit)
• 1966-67: Bobby Orr - 3rd in voting (Boston)
• 1967-68: Tim Horton - 3rd in voting (Toronto)
• 2013-14: Shea Weber - 3rd in voting (Nashville)
• 2014-15: Drew Doughty - 2nd in voting (Los Angeles)
• 2015-16: Erik Karlsson - 2nd in voting (Ottawa)
• 2016-17: Victor Hedman - 3rd in voting (Tampa Bay)
• 2020-21: Adam Fox - Norris winner (NY Rangers)
• 2022-23: Erik Karlsson - Norris winner (San Jose)

For 46 years, every Norris finalist was on a playoff team. Now over the past decade, we've had six Norris finalists from non-playoff teams, including the first two winners in the league's history.

* 1975-76: Brad Park - 2nd in voting. Played 13 games for the New York Rangers who missed, traded to Boston, which made the playoffs.

You touched on it in one of your previous posts, but through the 70s/80s/90s you had to be on a *really bad* team to miss the playoffs and any defender good enough to contend for a Norris is probably good enough to drive that team out of a bottom-5 finish.

Now when 16 of 32 teams make it you have average teams missing the playoffs and absolutely guys have Norris-level seasons on average teams.

Carlyle in '81 and Wilson in '82 both won on teams well below .500 that would have missed the playoffs in today's era but snuck in when 16 of 21 teams made it.