Although there are about 20 games left to play with, the Norris Trophy race is finished. Brent Burns is clearly the best defenseman this year and it’s not close. He’s even gaining some recognition in the Hart Trophy dialog and if the Sharks star was to win it, he’d become the initial blue-liner to claim the NHL’s MVP trophy since Chris Pronger did it 17 years ago.
BetOnline has pegged him as the enormous -1500 favorite, meaning it’s highly unlikely anybody rips him off the base on which he resides along with the fat lady, also called Gary Bettman, can begin warming up her vocal cords.
So what is Burns doing to earn these high praise and significant award consideration? Well, for starters, he’s 27 goals to go along with his 39 assists, is a +23 and is averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time per game. His offensive numbers rival those of their best forwards in the league and that he does it without abandoning his post in the defensive end. He has more power-play points than NHL points leader Connor McDavid and is also tied for first with Drew Doughty along with Ryan Suter with 4.57 defensive stage stocks apiece.
Doughty won the award in 2015-16 based mostly on his remarkable defensive stage stocks amount so if Burns continues to take care of his responsibilities before Martin Jones, there is no reason to deny him that the Norris honors.
If Burns does not win the Norris this season, there’s something basically wrong with the way we decide who wins awards. He is beard and shoulders above anyone else on the list and Erik Karlsson, who is second in the likelihood at +900, ended runner-up to Doughty in Norris voting this past year and he had a better season than he is having this year.
Another factor that shouldn’t be ignored is how awesome a man Burns is. The dude is a shining beacon of entertainment in a league that tends to lack personality. Why the NHL is not promoting the hell out of the guy is beyond me.Archived Articles
One of the most controversial moves throughout the NHL offseason was the trade that sent P.K. Subban to Nashville and Shea Weber north of the border to Montreal. Critics hounded Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens’ front office for the transfer but with the Habs beginning their season 9-0-1 and Weber being a league-best +14, the criticism is starting to silence.
The odds have been upgraded for Norris Trophy futures and Weber has increased the board and now sits right behind Erik Karlsson in +325. The Habs blue-line bomber not just leads all players in plus/minus, he also sits third in points for defensemen with 10 and has pounded in four goals — three of them on the power play.
P.K., on the other hand, is -7 via 10 games and is shooting an awful 8.3 percent. His team sits dead last in the Central Division with only three wins and has been struggling to put the puck in the net. I think the Predators are a fantastic team and Subban is — obviously — a fantastic player. BetOnline is offering a +1400 line for P.K. to acquire the Norris but I believe that you can avoid this one — Subban is too much risk/reward player to ever post the leading defensive numbers required of a Norris winner.
Weber’s plus/minus and other defensive numbers will be boosted astronomically by playing in front of Carey Price this year and if the Canadiens keep winning, the significant blue-liner is a complete shoo-in to take this award even when he does not continue to keep pace with Brent Burns and Karlsson from the points race.
Drew Doughty won the Norris last year despite submitting 31 fewer points than Karlsson, who received the second-most votes. He did, however, rate the league in defensive stage shares — a stat Weber currently leads the NHL in.
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