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Midseason Norris Trophy picks |
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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our midseason picks for the Norris Trophy.
Todd Cordell
Mark Giordano.
Many – myself included – thought Giordano would take a bit of a step back this year. As good of a job as he does taking care of himself, this is his 35-year-old season. You would think he'd start to slow down sooner than later – especially without Dougie Hamilton, who he worked so terrifically well with over the last couple seasons. That hasn't happened. At all.
Through 40 games, Giordano has piled up 39 points. Only two defenders (Morgan Rielly and Brent Burns) have more to their name. What's really impressive about Giordano is he has produced offense at such a high clip while posting spectacular on-ice numbers. He owns a +15 5v5 goal differential and the Western Conference-leading Flames control 4.26% more of the chances with him out there during the game state. He's doing this while playing a ton of minutes against the opposing team's best players every single night.
Giordano is playing amazingly well and he deserves to be recognized for it.
James Tanner
There are two very deserving candidates. One is Erik Karlsson. He was unlucky points-wise to start the year, but he's on a 14 game scoring streak, on pace for around 70 points and is a possession monster. He is very clearly the best defenseman in the NHL. Reports of his decline are hilarious, misinformed, and embarrassing.
The second best candidate is Morgan Rielly. He scored 50 points before Christmas, has good peripheral stats and his defensive partner is absolutely terrible. Ron Hainsey shouldn't even be in the NHL. He has the 8th worst WAR in the NHL for defenseman and is just brutal in every conceivable way. The fact Rielly is doing what he's doing in spite of playing with the Peter Chiarelli of NHL defenseman is truly a super human feat on par with man landing on the moon or the best of Devo.
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