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Will Hedman Win Norris Trophy? |
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Yesterday, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks, and Erik Karlsson were announced as the three finalists for the Norris Trophy. As many of you already know, the Norris Trophy is awarded to the defenseman who demonstrates the best all-around ability throughout the entirety of the regular season.
All three blueliners put together a fantastic 2016-17 season, putting up points, being solid in their own end, and posting strong possession numbers. It will be a difficult task for the Professional Hockey Writers Association to determine a winner, but I do feel that one of these individuals has a slight advantage over the other two.
Unfortunately, that player is not Hedman.
The 26-year-old blueliner for the Bolts had himself a career year, posting 16 goals and 56 assists in 79 games. He was first among defenseman in assists and fourth among all players. In addition, he finished second in the NHL in powerplay points with 33. However, I do not think that all of this is enough to award Hedman the Norris Trophy in his first year being a finalist.
When it comes down to it, I think there is no question that the defenseman that stands out the most of these three and therefore deserves the Norris Trophy is Brent Burns. To put it simply, he just has a phenomenal 2016-17 season. Burns set Sharks' records for defensemen scoring 29 goals and recording 76 points. These numbers were good enough to lead all defensemen in the NHL this season. He also led the league in shots, was a dominant possession player, and laced his skates for all 82 games.
Hedman had a great year and he is very deserving of being a finalist this year for the Norris Trophy. However, I would be shocked if he or Karlsson beat out Burns for the award.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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