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 award ceremony and the NHL draft for the upcoming year. So, even after the hockey is over, I’m still strapped to the perpetual chair with my eyes glued to the screen. Analyzing every stock and speculated trade, I have always found that I disagree with some decisions made by NHL executives.

The NHL awards were given out last night. Among these awards were the Hart Trophy (League MVP), Art Ross Trophy (Scoring Leader), Selke Trophy (Outstanding Defensive Forward), Vezina (Best Goalkeeper), Lady Byng (Skillful and Gentleman Play), Calder Trophy (Best Rookie) and the coveted Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman). To see who won what 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 best 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 poor choice, I need to explain my bias. I am a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s customary for me to cheer against Detroit, which 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, aside from 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 given my team, but I fully respect them. With that out of the way, I would like to say that Nicklas Lidstrom did not 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’ scoring chances. A bonus for any defense is any offensive contribution to help their own team score. One of my personal favorite stats to judge a player with is their +/- rating. Players get a + for every goal their team scores while that player is on the ice. For each 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 angles 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 defensive leader in the league. He didn’t lead the league in any stats. For goals scored by defenders, 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, fullbacks should be judged on their defensive capabilities, not their offensive contributions. Lidstrom was -2 in the regular season, ranking him 177th. There were 176 more defenders 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 lackluster offense, but relied on their defense and goalie to win games. On a team built to defend and hold small leads, Chara became the league leader +/- defense with +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 from him in the offensive zone. Chara scores 14 goals and gave 30 assists. Statistically, 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 past performances, as Lidstrom was arguably the best defenseman in recent seasons. However, with old age the question of durability arises. The Norris Trophy should go to the most helpful, not the most popular or 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 of the fans’ 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 solve 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 from now on. Chara, Visnovsky and Carle served more than Lidstrom. If he has any ideas or would like to discuss who he thinks should have won the Norris, please leave a comment below.