Los Angeles Kings: Norris Trophy Awaits Drew Doughty

Enough is enough. It’s time to recognize Drew Doughty as the best defenseman in the National Hockey League.

“The James Norris Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.”

That is the description of the James Norris Trophy, according to NHL.com.

Not the defender who puts up the most points, plays the most minutes or has the most blocked shots, but the greatest “all-round ability” in the position.

Ask any hockey fan who has watched the L.A. Kings play on a consistent basis and they will tell you how great Drew Doughty is.

Heck, even ask the fan who has watched only a handful of Kings games and they will tell you the same thing.

Arguably the most competitive and intense player in the National Hockey League, the two-time Stanley Cup Champion does it all. He scores, makes perfect passes, plays sound defense and delivers bone-crunching hits.

Oct 22, 2015; San Jose, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (8) looks to pass against the San Jose Sharks in the first period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Doughty, the second overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, has received votes for the Norris Trophy five times, twice finishing in the top three, and actually finished with more first place votes than 2015 winner Erik Karlsson did. The fact that he has never won the award is a real head-scratcher.

How in the world has he not won this award yet?

Many people in the hockey world (just Google “Norris Trophy bias” and you’ll find plenty of articles) point to one of the main reasons for this as being that Doughty plays on an L.A. team located in the Pacific Time Zone, where the majority of their games begin at 10:30 p.m. when most people out East are sleeping.

That’s actually not an absurd reason.

The last time a player won the award who didn’t play for a team in the Eastern or Central time zone was the Kings’ own Rob Blake, way back in 1997-98. Even more surprising is the fact that only three times has the Norris Trophy been awarded to a player outside of the Eastern and Central time zones since 1967. Blake won it in 1997-98 and Paul Coffey of the Edmonton Oilers won it in 1984-85 and 1985-86.

I’m not so naïve that I don’t think those other players deserved it, though. Many of the greatest defensemen of all-time played on the Eastern side of the league. Guys like Bobby Orr, Niklas Lidstrom, Ray Bourque and Denis Potvin won the award multiple times.

But there have also been some great defenders out West, too. Players like Gary Suter, Kevin Lowe and Lubomir Visnovsky have all been close to the Norris but have never won.

Suter won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 1986 and finished third in Norris voting in 1988. Lowe, a more defensive-minded defender, received 10 all-star votes and four Norris votes over his career. Visnovsky received Norris votes on two occasions, with his fourth-place finish in 2010-11 being the closest he’d get.

What’s interesting about Visnovsky’s fourth-place finish in the 2011 voting is that he led all defensemen with 68 points and finished with a +18 plus/minus rating. Lidstrom, the winner of the award that year, had 62 points and a -2 rating.

To help Visnovsky’s case, not only was he at the top with a 7.0 Offensive Point Shares (OPS) rating for all defensemen who received votes, but he placed fourth with a 5.8 Defensive Point Shares (DPS) rating. Lidstrom finished second-last (19^th) with a 3.3 DPS rating for those who received votes. 

More from Editorials

• Kings vs. Oilers prediction and odds for NHL playoffs Game 2
• The LA Kings Goalie Controversy No One Saw Coming
• LA Kings’ Adrian Kempe is an Underrated Swedish Star
• Kings’ Stanley Cup odds are disrespectful
• Rink Royalty goes behind the scenes with Union and Blue for LAK-CBJ game

Why the heck am I talking about the 2010-11 Norris voting?

I mention this because looking at these numbers, one would think Visnovsky deserved to win the award that year. I should point out that the three players who finished ahead of Visnovsky (Lidstrom, Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara) all played in either the Eastern or Central time zones while Visnovsky played in the Pacific with the Anaheim Ducks.

You could bring up the argument that Lidstrom played 219:02 of short-handed minutes that year while Visnovsky played just 35:19. Sure, and that’s a big difference. But Visnovsky’s numbers that year are very similar to those of Karlsson’s last year, who posted 66 points, a plus/minus rating of +7, 4.7 DPS rating, 7.2 OPS rating and 46:03 of short-handed ice time.

Could the fact that Visnovsky and the Ducks began the majority of their games while everybody else on the East coast was already well into their night’s sleep be a reason for his shortcoming? Could the fact that Karlsson plays on a Canadian team who plays their games at 7-7:30 p.m. every night be a major factor that tips the scale in his favor?

Maybe, maybe not. But it’s definitely interesting to look at and is more realistic than you may think.

But let’s get back to Doughty for a moment.

In an article by Stephen Whyno on CBC.com, Toronto Maple Leafs forward and former teammate of Doughty’s with the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League, Peter Holland, praised the Kings defenseman.

“Oh man, he’s so smart out there, he’s in two places at once, he skates really well, he’s a big body, great vision on the ice, makes a great first pass – the list goes on,” Holland said. “Whatever you can do well as a hockey player, Drew Doughty does it.”

Since 2012, Doughty has played the second-most minutes overall of any defenseman in the entire NHL with 5649:40 minutes (Ryan Suter is first with 5951:58). Additionally, he is just one of three players with over 4000 minutes played five-on-five in that span, with 4083:52 (Suter is first with 4361:25).

The last three Norris winners, Karlsson, Keith and Subban, rank 18^th (4913:34), 10^th (5124:46) and 9^th (5141:12) in overall ice time, respectively.

So far this season, Doughty is playing more short-handed minutes than any of those three, averaging 3:00 minutes per game while surprisingly averaging the fewest minutes per game of the bunch on the power play at 2:50 minutes per game. Not to pick on Karlsson, but last year’s Norris Trophy winner averages just 47 seconds per game on the penalty kill.

Additionally, the Kings’ franchise defender plays an overall average of 27:47 minutes per game, good for third in the NHL. Karlsson plays an average of seven seconds more at 27:54 minutes per game, but has played two more games than Doughty and was helped by a 36:34 time-on-ice stat recently. However, Doughty plays over two minutes more than both Keith (25:40/game) and Subban (25:15).

Doughty plays all of these minutes and still performs at an extraordinary level at both ends of the ice.

The one thing which really works in favor of the past three Norris winners is simple to find: their point totals. Since 2012, Karlsson (1^st, 154 points), Subban (2^nd, 151 points) and Keith (4^th, 133 points) rank in the top four in scoring for defensemen while Doughty (21^st, 105 points) sits further down the list.

But again, this should not be an award for the best offensive defenseman.

Since 2012 and playing five-on-five, Doughty leads the group with 25.3 shots-against per 60 minutes played. Karlsson (32.2), Keith (29.0) and Subban (28.9) all trail the London, ON native.

Through the first 30 or so games of the 2015-16 season while playing five-on-five, Doughty also leads the pack with a 59.4% Corsi-for rating, with Keith being the closest at 53.8%. Subban sits at 53.4% while Karlsson owns a 50.5% rating.

Take note, voters.

Next: 15 things the Los Angeles Kings should be thankful for

We can talk fancy stats all day, but these numbers show that while Doughty continues to put up a respectable amount of points as a defenseman, he is getting it done on the back-end, too.

Next time you get the chance to watch a Kings game, watch L.A.’s #8. Once you get past his remarkable skating ability, you’ll see a special player that is rarely caught out of position. You will see a guy who makes the perfect pass and makes the right decision of when and when not to pinch on offense. You will see a guy who plays an incredible amount of minutes and looks like he could play another full game once the game ends.

You will see a guy who should, without a doubt, be the 2015-16 James Norris Trophy winner.

It’s long overdue.