Even though there are still about 20 games left to play, the Norris Trophy race is finished. Brent Burns is obviously the best defenseman this year and it is not near. He is even getting some recognition in the Hart Trophy conversation and when the Sharks star was to win it, he would become the first blue-liner to claim the NHL’s MVP trophy since Chris Pronger did it 17 years back.
BetOnline has pegged him as the huge -1500 favored, meaning it’s highly unlikely anybody knocks him off the pedestal on which he currently resides along with the fat woman, also called Gary Bettman, can start warming up her vocal cords.
So what’s Burns doing to earn these high praise and major award thought? Well, for starters, he has 27 goals to go along with his 39 aids, is a +23 and is averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time a game. His offensive numbers rival those of the best forwards in the league and he does it without abandoning his post in the defensive end. He’s more power-play points than NHL points leader Connor McDavid and is also tied for first with Drew Doughty and Ryan Suter with 4.57 defensive stage stocks apiece.
Doughty won the award in 2015-16 based mostly on his remarkable defensive point shares number so if Burns continues to take care of his responsibilities in front of Martin Jones, there is no reason to deny him the Norris honors.
If Burns doesn’t win the Norris this season, there is something fundamentally wrong with how we decide who wins awards. He’s beard and shoulders above anyone else on the record and Erik Karlsson, who’s second in the odds at +900, ended runner-up to Doughty at Norris voting this past year and he had a much better year than he is having this year.
Another element that shouldn’t be ignored is how amazing a man Burns is. The dude is a shining beacon of amusement in a league that tends to lack character. Why the NHL is not promoting the hell out of this guy is outside me.Archived Articles
Among the most controversial moves during the NHL offseason was that the trade that sent P.K. Subban into Nashville and Shea Weber north of the border to Montreal. Critics hounded Marc Bergevin along with the Canadiens’ front office to the transfer but with all the Habs start their year 9-0-1 and Weber being a league-best +14, the complaint is starting to quiet.
The chances have been upgraded for Norris Trophy futures and Weber has increased the board and today sits right behind Erik Karlsson at +325. The Habs blue-line bomber not only leads all players in plus/minus, in addition, he sits third in points for defensemen with 10 and has already pounded in four goals — three of these on the power play.
P.K., on the other hand, is -7 via 10 games and is shooting at an awful 8.3 percent. His team sits dead in the Central Division with just 3 wins and has been struggling to place the puck in the net. I think the Predators are a fantastic team and Subban is — obviously — a good player. BetOnline is offering a +1400 line for P.K. to win the Norris but I think you can avoid this one — Subban is too much risk/reward player to post the stellar defensive amounts required of a Norris winner.
Weber’s plus/minus and other defensive amounts will be boosted astronomically by playing in front of Carey Price this year and when the Canadiens keep winning, the big blue-liner is a complete shoo-in to carry this award even if he fails to continue to keep pace with Brent Burns and Karlsson in the points race.
Drew Doughty won the Norris last year despite submitting 31 fewer things than Karlsson, who received the second-most votes. He did, but rate the league in defensive stage shares — a stat Weber now leads the NHL in.
Read more here: http://new.mollyfletcher.com/?p=3703
