The NHL released its Three Stars of last week, with David Pastrnak taking the top spot. The Boston Bruins superstar has scored seven goals in the last three games and now has 32 in 40 games this season. Quite the platform year for the pending free agent, who will need a massive contract from the Bruins to stay in town. It’s also a great showcase for his All-Star participation, which isn’t certain given he’s in the fan vote.
Second and third place went to Jack Hughes and Rasmus Dahlin, two of the most impressive young players (and first-overall picks) in the league. Hughes, 21, leads the league in even-strength goals with 21 and has already matched the career-high he set last season with 26 overall. Five of those came last week as he continues to lead the New Jersey Devils into contender status in the Metropolitan Division. Because of the attention that Tage Thompson is getting as an emerging superstar, Dahlin’s season for the Buffalo Sabres may actually be going a little bit under the radar. The 22-year-old now has 44 points in 36 games, putting him in real contention for the Norris Trophy, given how important he is to the Sabres every night. His 1.22 points-per-game rate trails only Erik Karlsson among NHL defenders this season.
- Speaking of Buffalo, there’s a bit of a roster crunch happening for the Sabres, as they try to figure out the goaltending situation. Eric Comrie’s conditioning stint is over and he told reporters including Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News that he is healthy and ready to play. As of right now, Comrie remains on injured reserve and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who has played so well in his absence, is still on the roster as an emergency call-up. That won’t be allowed to continue, and the Sabres will have to make a decision one way or another. Send Luukkonen down, put Comrie (or Craig Anderson) on waivers to send him down, or carry three goaltenders on the active roster.
- When discussing potential defense targets for the Edmonton Oilers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast touched on Jake McCabe of the Chicago Blackhawks. Friedman believes that Edmonton is on McCabe’s no-trade list, which could be the end of any speculation that he could be acquired at the deadline. McCabe holds a seven-team NTC, carries a $4MM cap hit and is signed through the 2024-25 season.
Regarding Jake McCabe (or similar players), it’s always funny to hear the usual:
“He’s an American. He has a 7-team No-Trade list. Do the math.”
It’s funny, but it seems to be true more often than not.
“The 22-year-old now has 44 points in 36 games, putting him in real contention for the Norris Trophy,”
I remember when the Norris Trophy was given out for defense, not scoring. There should be two awards, one for offensive defenseman, one for defensive defenseman.
Okay. Who is going to determine whether a player is categorized as offensive or defensive? Will there be a number of points that disqualifies a player from being considered in the defensive category? Please identify your guidelines for splitting the award into two distinct entities.
This is something that has interested me for a while – the misconception that the Norris has ever rewarded defensive play over offensive. It has, since its inception, gone to one of the highest-scoring defensemen in the league. The first Norris, in 1954, was won by Red Kelly, who led all defensemen (and ranked sixth in league scoring).
If anything, there seems to be a slight bias from voters to give it to one of the highest scoring but not THE highest, because (I assume) they don’t want to be seen as rewarding purely offensive production, as you suggest.
These are where the Norris winners have ranked over the years among defensemen:
1st (32) – 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017
2nd (16) – 1958, 1959, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
3rd (6) – 1956, 1967, 1988, 1990, 2003, 2004
4th (3) – 1963, 1989, 1996
5th+ (12) – 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1998, 2007, 2009, 2016, 2018
Several of those 5+ years were anomalous, too, like Bobby Orr’s 1968 win. He would have ranked 1st by points per game but played only 46 that season (and still won!)
The only real example of defense driving the decision on the Norris is Langway, who won it in years he scored 32 and 33 points. But the drastic change in how Washington played defense (when combined with how much worse Montreal became) after he joined the Capitals led to him getting it over his much more offensive counterparts.
There also seems to be something of a bias against newcomers who suddenly lead in points. Sort of a “prove you can keep it up” mentality, is how I see it. In 1983 Paul Coffey led all defenders with 96 points, 21 ahead of second place. In 1984 the gap was 30, when he put up 40 goals and 126 points. The award would go to Langway both times, but voters eventually recognized Coffey and gave him the next two (and one a decade later).
Something similar happened with Lidstrom, who led all defensemen in scoring in 1999-2000, only to lose to second-place Pronger (and his +52 rating). Lidstrom would then take six of the next seven, despite that being his second-highest-scoring season.
There are some interesting nuances with the Norris and how it is awarded. It fascinates me and frustrates me for some of the same reasons. But to say it used to be “given out for defense, not scoring” I don’t believe is very accurate.
@doghockey
Please identify when you actually contributed something to a conversation besides your cowardly snark and run, pu ssyhockey.
If you can successfully do that, I might respond to you.
@gavin lee
The quote I gave (“The 22-year-old now has 44 points in 36 games, putting him in real contention for the Norris Trophy,”) made it seem like Dahlin hurtled into the Norris conversation strictly on the basis of his point totals. My response “I remember when it was for defensive play, not offensive” in real life, would be given with a slightly sarcastic tone…. Kind of like saying “gee, I remember when murder was illegal”
There have been lots of winners of the Norris, who were great defensively, besides Langway, and there wasn’t any debate about it. I will reference specifically Pronger, Lindstrom, Bourque, Larry Robinson and Bobby Orr.
I stand by my words, and would defend their accuracy. Just keep in mind that mild sarcasm was intended. And will most assuredly defend the statement that offensive numbers don’t make a great defenseman.
@KRB
I asked legitimate questions as to how you would separate the offensive and defensive players for Norris consideration. Any snark perceived is on you. That said, I applaud your quality tantrum, although I don’t really see how, per your rules, it contributed to the conversation.