James Norris and Mattias Ohlund Trophies

The three nominees for the 2011 James Norris Trophy are not really surprises, and all really worthy of winning. First is the defending Best Defenseman Zdeno Chara. He had a solid year with 14 Goals, 30 Assists, and was an impressive plus 33. He held down the Blueline on PPs, PKs, and, as always, a physical presence while on the ice, just ask Max Pacorietty.

Shea Weber was also nominated this year, and he will probably win, because lets face it, he is a big Canadian Defenseman that had a decent year. The Canadian media goes insane over these guys: Chris Pronger, Barret Jackman, Eric Brewer, etc. I am not taking anything away from Weber. He had 16 Goals, 32 Assists and was a plus 7. He was the best Defenseman on a defensive minded team. However, he has had some glaring problems. For instance in the 12 games his line mate Ryan Suter missed, Weber was a shocking -14. Thats the one major difference between Weber and the other two in this category. You could pair Chara and Nik Lidstrom with Ron Ward (Google it) and they would still put up the numbers.

Our last nominee is of course the aforementioned Lidstrom. He posted 16 Goals, 46 Assists and a -2 rating. He also only had 20 minutes in penalties, which is less than half of both Chara and Weber. He lead the Wings in ice-time, and damn near the league, and also on the first PP and PK units. Oh yeah, he is also 41 years old. The CBC recently did a poll, where it asked all NHL players various questions. One of which was: Who would you most like to build a franchise around? Lidstrom got second...he is 41! Lidstrom wins his seventh and likely last Norris.

As for the Canucks, it was a tough decision. Mainly because there were so many injuries to the Blueline this year. Hamhuis, Ballard, Salo (shocking, I know), Bieksa, Edler, and Alberts all missed significant time with injuries. All the fill-ins, Chris Tanev, Aaron Rome, Evan Oberg, and Yan Sauve filled in admirably, the first two carrying a lion's share of the load. This award has to go to Christian Ehrhoff though. He had 14 Goals, 36 Assists, and was a plus 19. He also played in 79 games, the most by any Canuck defender all year.