As a die-hard hockey fan, I religiously watch the playoffs and always look forward to watching hockey even after the seasons are over. The week after the Stanley Cup Playoffs end is a week that contains both the NHL awards ceremony and the NHL draft for the coming year. So even after hockey is over, I’m still strapped to the perpetual chair with my eyes glued to the screen. Going through every speculated stock and trade, I always found that I disagree with some decisions made by NHL executives.
The NHL awards were handed out last night. Among these awards were the Hart Trophy (league most valuable player), Art Ross Trophy (scoring leader), Selke Trophy (outstanding defensive forward), Vezina (best goalkeeper), Lady Byng (skillful and chivalrous play), Calder Trophy (best rookie) and the coveted Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman). To see who won which trophies, you can visit here. I agree with almost all the awards except one. Norris’s trophy went to Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings. Lidstrom is now 41 years old and, for years, he has been considered the greatest defenseman to ever play the game. This year’s Norris marks Lidstrom’s seventh Norris Trophy award in his illustrious career.
First of all, before I explain why I think this was a bad choice, I must explain my bias. I am a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s customary for me to cheer against Detroit, who has been our Rival since the inception of the NHL. Although I don’t like the Red Wings as a team, I have great respect for their players. Every player besides Todd Bertuzzi is a great ambassador for the game of hockey. Every player they have is skilled beyond belief and they will beat you fairly. I have a hate for all the losses they have inflicted on my team, but I fully respect them. With that out of the way, I’d like to say that Nicklas Lidstrom didn’t deserve a Norris Trophy this year.
The Norris Trophy is awarded to the best defenseman. A defender’s roles are based on protecting his own net and reducing his opponents’ chances of scoring. A bonus for any defense is any offensive contribution to help their own team score. One of my personal favorite stats for judging a player is their +/- rating. Players get a + for each goal their team scores while that player is on the ice. For every goal against while that player is on the ice, he earns a -. The top scorer in the league may have the most goals scored, but if he has a rating of -, it shows that the player may have been out of position most of the time. In hockey, you always have to look at both sides of the game. If you want a team to play aggressively, it will almost always result in more goals against.
As I looked at Nicklas Lidstroms’ stats from last season, he was never a league defensive leader. He did not lead the league in any statistics. For goals scored by defensemen, Lidstrom was fourth. In assists, he was third. He was second in points (Assists + Goals). Lidstrom had a career points season and contributed greatly to the success of his team. However, as discussed above, defensemen should be judged on their defensive capabilities, not their offensive contributions. Lidstrom was a -2 in the regular season, ranking him 177th. There were 176 more defensemen in the league who had a better +/- than the Norris Trophy winner. The Norris Trophy is described as the best defenseman in the league. Although there are two types of defenders (offensive defenders, defensive defenders), Lidstrom should not have won.
In my opinion, Zdeno Chara should have won that trophy without hesitation. Chara was the captain of the Boston Bruins, the Stanley Cup champions. The Bruins had a very mediocre offense, but relied on their defense and goaltending to win games. On a team built to defend and hold small leads, Chara became the league’s leading +/- defense at +33 in the 82-game series. Chara not only did a great job of keeping opponents from scoring, but added his fair share of help in the offensive zone. Chara scores 14 goals and gave 30 assists. Based on the stats, there should be at least 5 other defensemen in the league more worthy than Lidstrom for the Norris Trophy.
This could be a great example of votes related to popularity and previous performances, as Lidstrom was undoubtedly the best defenseman in recent seasons. However, with old age the question of durability arises. The Norris Trophy should go to the one who serves the most, not the most popular or most reputable of the D-men. Lidstrom had 6 trophies before the monstrosity of a voting system took over. The award should have gone to Chara, who deserves a memory for his great season. Although this year he won the Cup, he deserved an individual award.
In the case of fan voting, the league must take some initiative to agree with what the fans voted for. Although Lidstrom may have won the majority fan vote, the league should have stepped in and noted the discrepancy between Lidstrom’s stats and the stats of other big-name defensemen. I hope that the NHL awards show in the following years will fix this problem. Lidstrom announced two days ago that he plans to extend his career for another year. If he wins the Norris for the eighth time with the same performance as this year, he may have to boycott the awards show from now on. Chara, Visnovsky and Carle served more than Lidstrom. If he has any ideas or would like to discuss who you think he should have won the Norris, please leave a comment below.
