When both defenders are on their game, Karlsson is unquestionably the better player, how can you even make that as your argument? He's outplayed him in everything.
Olympics, playoffs, you name it. Only thing Karlsson doesn't have is a Cup, by that same measure, he also doesn't have Quick, Kopitar, Carter etc...
That's debatable at best.
Especially given the chief complaint about Doughty during that 2015 Norris battle was that people were citing his dominant playoffs in the previous year.
He's got Olympic Golds, Stanley Cups, and two strong Conn Smythe cases of his own, being a central driving force in each championship, he's not just a passenger of circumstance.
Citing "zero goals against" in the Olympics while he was playing on the sheltered pairing while ignoring Doughty led Canada in scoring while playing on the "all-around" pairing with Vlasic is misleading.
The "when both defenders are on their game thing" is pretty important, I would think, given Doughty's been consistent, played 82 games a year multiple times, led the league in ice time, etc. while Karlsson has been up and down with injury and inconsistency for years. 40 games of Doughty struggling after a decade of dominance means you get to finally deploy your lowlights, congrats, but it also doesn't erase or change history.
Duhatschek: Did Drew Doughty’s 2014 get enough respect?
"In the playoffs, Doughty averaged a team-high 28:45 per night of playing time, and contributed 18 points in 26 games. Justin Williams, who scored many pivotal goals along the Kings' playoff path, won the Conn Smythe Trophy, but Doughty was – as Sports Illustrated's Michael Farber put it – the thinking man's choice for playoff MVP."
Maybe not between you and I and our usually thinking groups, but Doughty gets forgotten a lot.