The Norris Trophy

[Josh]

Did you know:

The Norris has been awarded a total of 60 times - but only to 25 different players (which will not change if either Karlsson or Subban win again this year)!

Astonishingly, 36% of Norris trophies have been awarded to only 3 players - Bobby Orr (8 times), Nicklas Lidstrom (7 times), and Doug Harvey (7 times).

45% of Norris trophies have been awarded to only 4 players - the 3 previously mentioned as well as Ray Bourque (5 times).

65% of Norris trophies have been awarded to only 8 players - the 4 previously mentioned as well as Chris Chelios (3 times), Paul Coffey (3 times), Pierre Pilote (3 times), and Denis Potvin (3 times).

78% of Norris trophies have been awarded to only 12 players - the 8 previously mentioned as well as Duncan Keith (2 times), Rod Langway (2 times), Brian Leetch (2 times), and Larry Robinson (2 times).

[Alfie11]

Interesting ...

The Norris is definitely a lot like the Selke - a reputation award. It's voted on by the media, and it's not as easy to judge from stats like the Hart is. Think about it ... Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun votes on the award. He has to cover all 82 Senators games and is on the road for 50% of the season. On Sens game nights, he likely watches the game, writes his article and goes to bed. On off-days, his time is split between family and work, and maybe the odd day he gets another teams game in. On weekends he likely gets a daytime/nighttime game in, depending when the Sens play. So after all of this, he sees every Sens game, every team against the Sens, and then probably 2-3 extra games per week. That's not really a lot of games to be able to judge every top defenseman fairly ... a lot of it goes off of hype.

Another big factor is the market they play for, and it can be a good thing or a bad thing. A guy like Shea Weber - if he has a great offensive season compared to his peers, the Predators do alright he'll win the award. He could make a ton of mistakes on D, but let's be honest, not a ton of people watch Nashville. If a guy like Subban or someone in Toronto has an outstanding season, they'll likely win the award based off of hype only.

Nicklas Lidstrom - the guy was a Norris winning machine. As long as someone wasn't much, much better than him, it was his award to lose. Weber arguably had a better season than him in 2011 but he won based on reputation. I don't think Keith deserved his Norris last season at all, but he's the best defenseman on a great team so he's going to get looks.