Quinn Hughes | Photo: Vancouver Canucks
The National Hockey League (NHL) has named the candidates for the James Norris Award, which is presented to the league’s best defenseman. A teammate of Teodoras Blüger and Artūrs Shilov in the Vancouver “Canucks” unit is also among the three applicants. Quinn Hughes.
The 23-year-old Hughes, who was named captain of the Canucks before this season, had the most productive season of his career. He was the most productive defender in the regular season with 92 (17+75) points. Among all players at his position, Hughes was the leader in points scored in the same formations (54), ranked second in most points with 38, and also had the fourth best efficiency ratio (+38). Hughes averaged 24 minutes, 41 seconds on the court, 10th-highest in the league.
Hughes is claiming the Norris Award for the first time in his career. If Hughes wins the award, he will become the first Canucks player to win the award.
The captain of the Nashville “Predators” is also among the candidates Roman Josi and star of the Colorado Avalanche Kyle McCar. The 33-year-old Josi played in all 82 games of the regular season and scored 85 (23+62) points, which was the third best among all defensemen, including the Swiss leader in blocked shots (151). Josi won the NHL’s best defenseman award in 2019/2020. in the season of 2015, but last year he finished second in the vote behind Sweden’s Erik Karlsson.
Meanwhile, in 2021/2022 The Norris Award winner of the 2016 season, Makar was the second leading defenseman in the league with 90 (21+69) points this season, 39 of which he scored in the majority, which was the second highest score. The “Avalanche” luminary was also great in his “direct duties” – Makar was the best in the team with 148 blocked shots and 70 steals.
