While high-scoring forwards and dynamic goalies are precious entities, big-time defensemen also rank among the most important players in hockey. It’s a bit tougher to gauge which ones are the true greats - you can’t just “feel” your way to the best ones with 30 teams in play - but sometimes the elites are painfully obvious. The PHT staff weighs the strengths of all three candidates below.
Matt Reitz’s case for Zdeno Chara:
It’s an interesting year for the Norris voting. All three are captains, all are great leaders for their respective teams, and as much as the award as changed over the years, all three are true two-way defensemen. They put up points but they’re also defensive anchors for their respective teams. But of the three, Zdeno Chara puts it all together the best.
There are a lot of people who will disprove the importance of the plus/minus stat. Both Shea Weber and Chara were on the plus side of the ledger—but its debatable whether Weber is even the best player on his team. He’s a spectacular defenseman, but he also had the advantage of playing with Ryan Suter all season. If this were an award for best defensive pairing, they should win it in a landslide. Unfortunately for Weber, this is an award for best defenseman. He very well may be able to do it on his own—we just never saw him do it this season. When Suter was out with an injury, the entire term suffered.
When looking at the statistics between Nicklas Lidstrom and Zdeno Chara, it was hard to look past that Chara a league best +33 and Lidstrom is a minus player for the season. Both guys play against their opponents’ top lines, both score, and both are depended to play shutdown roles. The only difference is that Chara’s team scored significantly more than the opposition when he was on the ice. While Lidstrom was out there against the best, statistics prove that he didn’t thrive like he has before.
This season very well may prove to be Lidstrom’s swan song and he’s going out on a high note. You have to give him credit—he may have been the second best defenseman in the NHL year. Right behind Chara.
Joe Yerdon’s case for Nicklas Lidstrom:
He’s won the award six times already and after everyone was ready to start calling Nicklas Lidstrom an old man after his sub-par (for him) year last season, he came back with a vengeance. He was second on the Red Wings in points with 62, the most points he’s scored since 2007-2008 when he won the Norris Trophy. Points aren’t always where it’s at for defensemen of course and Lidstrom always plays the biggest minutes against the opponents top players. His 23:28 average time on ice was tops among everyone on Detroit that wasn’t a goalie. Oh right, and he’s 41 years-old.
We’re not going to pull the lifetime achievement card here for Lidstrom since he’s coming back next season, but given how he played this year, how important he was to Detroit’s success and how much the team relied on him at both ends of the ice he embodies what the Norris Trophy is all about. In a finalists class that has such other tremendous talent, Lidstrom is the guy both Weber and Chara hope to be when their careers are through.
James O’Brien’s case for Shea Weber:
With all due respect to Lidstrom and his outstanding 62-point season, Weber and Chara have been more important to their teams than the first ballot Hall of Famer from Sweden.
It isn’t easy to narrow it down between Chara and Weber, though. They both receive plenty of even strength, power play and shorthanded time on ice. Each player was above average in the overrated points categories (Weber had 48, Chara had 44) especially since their teams don’t generate buckets of scoring chances like Detroit does.
Chara gets a lot of attention for his intimidating size, but Weber was sixth among defensemen with 211 hits while Chara had 153. Despite this disparity in violence, Weber seemed to pick his spots a little better, being that he registered 56 PIM to Chara’s 88. Chara’s +33 rating definitely jumps out at you, but that is usually a team-based stat. Weber isn’t a slouch on the penalty kill, either.
He might not be the most obvious pick for the Norris, but Weber was the most valuable and well-rounded defenseman in hockey this season. (Although Chara was very, very close behind.)