Okay, here's the premise: I see lots of good arguments during the ranking of top forwards all time, and of course hardware comes into play a lot. Specifically, I see arguments in favour of players like Sakic, Yzerman, and Fedorov being places higher than other similarly talented offensive forwards because of their defense, and Selke trophies are there to support the claim. To the extreme, there are players like Bob Gainey whose defensive game is deemed all that is necessary to justify a fairly high ranking against other forwards that may have been "more (offensively) talented."
Now, to spin that in the other direction, defensemen do get consideration for the number of points they scored in their career, but arguments boil down to number of Hart, Conn Smythes, and, of course, Norris trophies.
So, what if there had traditionally been a trophy for the best offensive defenseman in the league going back the same number of years as the Norris? Kind of like a defensemen's Art Ross. Would the simple fact of having that hardware in the trophy case sway that debate, and would the number of "Coffey" trophies compared to the next guy with similar stats and trophies otherwise affect people's rankings?
I'd like to lean on pnep and Hockey Outsider, the ultimates in statistical historians, to provide a list of defensemen who led all defensemen in scoring each year going back to the first Norris (=Coffey trophy winner); or just a table with the names and how many times they would have won. And as the rest of you check out the list, does the recognition of this award (if considered as legit as an Art Ross or Selke) provoke any change in your rankings?
Link to HOH Top 100:
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=486479
edited to show just defensemen rankings: