The Norris Trophy is one of the more respected and honored awards to be given out by the NHL. After all, being named the best defenseman in the NHL carries a lot of weight to it. When you’re thrown in the mix with past winners like Bobby Orr and Doug Harvey, there’s a certain cache to being honored.
This year’s three finalists go across the spectrum of what it’s all about to play along the blue line and what it means to carry a big reputation as well. Boston’s Zdeno Chara, Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom, and Nashville’s Shea Weber were named as the three finalists for the Norris Trophy and each of their cases for the award are intriguing. Unsurprisingly, all three finalists also double as the captains of their teams. After all, defense does win championships and it earns respect in the locker room.
Chara is the 6'7" physically imposing monster along the blue line from Boston. Chara has won the award once before in 2008-2009 in what seemed to be his breakout year as a perennial candidate for the award. His work this season in helping stand up and protect Tim Thomas and leading him to a career year in goal didn’t go unnoticed. Going by the raw numbers, his season was spectacular. With 14 goals, 30 assists and a plus/minus rating of +33 Chara’s season looks outstanding.
Nicklas Lidstrom is a six-time Norris Trophy winner and while that carries a lot of swagger, his play this season at age 40 has been inspiring. Averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time per game, Lidstrom helped carry the Red Wings to the Central Division title and gave them the ever constant presence along the blue line for any and all situations. This season, he gave the Wings a lot more offense than even they thought they’d get out of him as he finished the season with 16 goals and 46 assists, his biggest points season since 2007-2008. Yeah, he won the Norris that year. One thing that may hamper his campaign is a plus/minus of -2. While we believe that metric has a ton of flaws to it, there are others that believe in it strongly. In this field of finalists it could make the difference.
Shea Weber is a beast in Nashville. He averages more than 25 minutes of ice time per game. He plays all facets of the game at even strength and on special teams. He’s physical. He’s got the booming slap shot like Chara and he scores too. With 16 goals and 32 assists this season he was a constant force along the blue line for the Predators. With his leadership Nashville stormed into the playoffs and his abilities have helped guys like Ryan Suter evolve into equally formidable defensemen. As good as he’s been, Weber’s season also provides an example for how misleading plus/minus can be as he was a mere +7 on the season.
With these three finalists, there are a few guys whose absence in the final three that will provide cause for complaint and while the offensive numbers of these three are good, the top defensive goal scorer and point producer both were left out of the mix in Dustin Byfuglien and Lubomir Visnovsky. Also missing was Phoenix’s Keith Yandle and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang who had outstanding first halves of the season but slumped in the second half. That said, it’s tough to argue with the three guys chosen as finalists.
So tell us... Who do you think takes home the hardware this year? Let us know in the poll and in the comments.
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