Evan Bouchard received 13 total votes for the James Norris Trophy as one of the best defensemen in the league, none of which ranked him higher than third. That's a surprising amount of consensus in the snubbing of the Edmonton Oilers' 95-point defender. Comparatively, Cale Makar found himself, and his on 191 of 191 ballots.
Even the Edmonton media members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association didn't include Bouchard on their ballots. With Bouchard so widely omitted, it's hard to argue that the reasoning is eastern bias or a lack of exposure to the voters. So why is it that Makar leads the way once again while Bouchard isn't even Top 5 in the opinions of most voters?
Offense and defense
We don't even need to explore the question of offensive production. Bouchard was flirting with a 100 point season. He had a six point game. He was a key player in the league's number one powerplay and scored five game-winning goals. His production was elite.
The overriding factor then has to be assumed to be Bouchard's defense. But he was a plus 25 for the season. He played nearly 25 minutes per game, on a team that consistently struggled to string wins together. His captain, Connor McDavid, only managed a plus 17 (with 138 points). And if we wanted to visit advanced statistics, his Corsi and Fenwick are practically mirror images of Makar's:
Bouchard Corsi: 57.9% Fenwick:58.1%
Makar Corsi: 58.1% Fenwick: 57.5%
Past winners
Here are the past ten winners of the Norris Trophy:
- 2025:Â Â Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche - 92 points, +28
- 2024:Â Â Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks - 92 points, +38
- 2023:Â Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks - 101 points, -26
- 2022:Â Â Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche - 86 points, +48
- 2021:Â Â Adam Fox, New York Rangers - 47 points, +19 (Covid shortened season)
- 2020:Â Â Roman Josi, Nashville Predators - 65 points, +22
- 2019:Â Â Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames - 74 points, +39
- 2018:Â Â Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning - 63 points, +32
- 2017:Â Â Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks - 76 points, +19
- 2016:Â Â Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings - 51 points, +24
- 2015:Â Â Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators - 66 points, +7
Erik Karlsson's 101 point season stands out. An exceptional offensive output, in that case, overrode a horrid plus/minus, and had Norris voters ignoring the San Jose Shark's 60 point, 14th place season. Bouchard's point total from this season is higher than any other on the list, and his team fought for a divisional title until the final week of the season.
The other plus/minus totals for these winners are all over the place. There can be little argument that Makar earned his 2022 Norris with that standout season, and his team also captured a Stanley Cup that year. But what about Adam Fox? His New York Rangers missed the playoff cut in spite of his individually successful season.
Excuses, excuses
We hear a number of similar arguments when deserving players aren't awarded these trophies. Connor McDavid didn't receive the Calder Trophy as the league's best rookie, in spite of his impressive points per game, because "you have to stay healthy", but Makar's missed games didn't seem to influence voters this year.
Team success apparently weighed heavily on PHWA members' minds this season, but they didn't view it as a significant factor for Karlsson or Fox. To Bouchard's credit, while he's understandably upset, he's moving past the injustice of being left off the ballot. Personally, I'm still a bit miffed.
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