Scoring 100 points from the blue line is incredible, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson has all but secured another Norris Trophy as he became the first defenseman in over 30 years to reach 100 points in a season, but does he actually deserve the award?
I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think Erik Karlsson deserves to be the Norris Trophy winner this season. And, to be honest, I don’t even think he’s one of the Top-10 best defenders (key word here) in the league.
As everyone pretty much knows by now, Erik Karlsson became the first NHL defense since Brian Leech in the 1991-92 season to score 100 points from the blue line as his two-goal performance in the Sharks 6-2 loss versus the Winnipeg Jets pushed him over the rare barrier.
Yet, even though he’s easily the highest scoring defenseman in the league this year (Jets’ Josh Morrissey is second with 75 PTS), I don’t think he should really even be in the conversation for the Norris Trophy.
Okay, before every Sharks fans comes after me, just please hear me out: not only is Erik Karlsson applying his trade on one of the league’s worst teams in the San Jose Sharks, but he’s also had a rather poor defensive season.
Firstly, addressing the team claim, the San Jose Sharks currently sit 7th in the Pacific Division, 13th (out of 16) in the Western Conference, 28th (out of 32) in the entire NHL, the team has a woeful record of just 22-42-16, this Sharks team will finish with the franchise’s 6th lowest wins tally in an 80+ game schedule (and the lowest since 1995/96’s 20 wins), and they’ll finish with a meager 60-64 PTS tally (the lowest since 1995/96 if current 60 PTS record isn’t helped).
Clearly, even with Erik Karlsson’s offensive brilliance, the San Jose Sharks have been nothing short of a dumpster fire. I get a player’s individual stats shouldn’t be discredited with how their, respective, team is performing when debating how good a player is, but it really should when awarding the league’s best (and only) defenseman award.
Last season, all three Norris nominees, the Avalanche’s Cale Makar (winner), the Predators’ Roman Josi, and the Lightnings’ Victor Hedman, all played on teams that not only won 45+ games (which is double the wins total the Sharks have right now), but also all made the playoffs. In fact, two of the three finalists (Hedman and Makar) reached the Stanley Cup Final, while Cale Makar won the cup and the Conn Smythe trophy with the Avalanche.
The league’s best defenseman really has to play for one of the NHL’s best teams, right? I mean, what is the purpose of awarding the best defenseman award to a guy that doesn’t shutdown opposing offense, contribute offensively when needed, and help his team win games in the same season.
Again, like I said, Karlsson’s individual offensive heroics have been extremely impressive, but they haven’t amassed for much in the wins column for San Jose.
As for the claim about Karlsson’s poor defense, his stats don’t lie: Karlsson has been on the ice for A LOT of goals against.
Now, I understand the +/- rating can be rather subjective and not the best measurer of a defenseman, but I think it’s really telling that Karlsson, who has directly scored 100 PTS, currently has a -21 +/-. So, in other words, Karlsson has been on the ice 121 times when the opposing team has scored a goal on the Sharks…which accounts for nearly 40% (38% to be precise) of the 313 goals against the Sharks have allowed this year. That’s horrible!
Just to put this in perspective, Brian Leech, who was the last defenseman to score 100+ points, had a +21 rating in the 1991/92 season for the Rangers, which is nearly a full 50-goal rating improvement over Karlsson’s current rating.
Oh, and the 1991/92 Rangers won the old Patrick Division title, won the President’s Trophy with a league-high 105 PTS, and reached the second round of the playoffs before getting beaten in six games by Mario Lemieux’s Stanely Cup-winning Penguins.
Anyways, the other leading Norris Trophy candidates this year, Rangers’ Adam Fox (71 PTS; +28 +/-), Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin (72 PTS; +12 +/-), Avalanche’s Cale Makar (66 PTS; +16 +/-), Jets’ Josh Morrissey (75 PTS; 0 +/-), all have at least a neutral +/- and are on teams with over 40+ wins.
Personally, I’d choose either Adam Fox or Cale Makar for the Norris as both of these guys are playing on teams with 45+ wins, 100+ points, and sit within the Top-3 of their, respective, divisions, while they’ve also been able to score 65+ points and boast a positive +/-, but any choice is a good one.
I’m not saying Erik Karlsson is a bad defenseman as his offensive firepower is without equal (well, maybe Roman Josi) in this league, but the Sharks struggles, and his own defensive inadequacies hurts his Norris Trophy chance in my opinion.
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