Norris Award Finalists Announced

Your NHL Norris Trophy Nominees, awarded for "defensive player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position" are:

Chara is a solid choice. His size makes him a dominant force on the ice. Opposing players are afraid of him. Mothers hide their babies. He's a great player and the consummate shutdown defender.

Mike Green has had a simply stellar offensive year. He has better numbers than the majority of NHL forwards. Heck not just most forwards, you could put his numbers up near the top of all players offensively. The better part is that he's able to do it while still being defensively solid. Other defensemen sacrifice that part of the game for goals, but at +24 he's contributing way more than he's getting beat. Add to that that he missed a bunch of games and still has those numbers? He's my vote (though I don't get one.)

Of course Lidstrom is a finalist. If he wins this award too many more times they're simply going to rename the award for him. 16-43-59 are pretty good numbers. We'll have to see if that will be enough for him to win it again this year though as Chara and Green have probably had better all-around years.