James Norris Memorial Trophy Finalists The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded to the defenseman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position. Broken down below are the stat lines and a small write up for each Finalist based off the multiple criteria. I want to thank @Darcy Kuemper for the wonderful graphics provided for this thread. *Playoff Teams: Philadelphia, NYR, NYI, Carolina, Columbus, Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Arizona, Anaheim, San Jose, Los Angeles, Edmonton Bubble Teams: Pittsburgh, Toronto, Chicago, Winnipeg, Vegas Non-Playoff: Washington, New Jersey, Detroit, Tampa, Florida, Buffalo, Nashville, St. Louis, Calgary, Vancouver* Congratulations to all Defencemen for a great, or in some cases - not so great, Season 31! With the new game, there is sometimes new faces who seem to magically appear and become great. This season was no different. I wish the 6 Finalists good luck in the race for the Norris! Here are your Finalists for the James Norris Memorial Trophy for Season 31 of the LGHL: @Dannyy Briere (MTL) Record: 21-6-1 (Won 75% of GP) Stat Line: 7-25-32, +26, 53 Shots, 173 Hits, 14 PIMs, 85 TA, -156 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 13-3-0 Vs. Bubble Teams: 5-3-0 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 3-0-1 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 57% (won 81%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 29% (won 63%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 14% (won 75%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 52 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 80.6% Danny Briere is our 1st Finalist. This season, Danny played for 2 teams: Columbus for the first 2 weeks before being moved to Montreal. Montreal is lucky to have picked him up because he did not miss a beat. Out of his 6 games in Columbus, he went 2-3-1, before going 19-3-0 on Montreal. Immediately clicking with fellow Norris finalist and Montreal AGM @I HDC I was key to his success this season. Good luck, Briere. @goonderk (ARZ) Record: 21-6-1 (Won 75% of GP) Stat Line: 4-24-28, +40, 25 Shots, 75 Hits, 0 PIMs, 69 TA, -141 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 10-6-1 Vs. Bubble Teams: 2-0-0 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 9-0-0 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 61% (won 59%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 7% (won 100%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 32% (won 100%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 35 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 96.7% Goonderk of the Arizona Coyotes is our second Finalist. Basically the LG personification of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, goonderk was a key part of Arizona's President's Cup run from start to finish. Despite his ugly high contract, he made it worth it, going 21-6-1. Despite playing 9 of his games vs Non-Playoff teams, he did win them all. Kudos to him for managing to get all the Ws, even against the shitters. Good luck, Goon. @x Lafond (BOS) Record: 23-3-1 (Won 85% of GP) Stat Line: 2-13-15, +39, 32 Shots, 95 Hits, 15 PIMs, 68 TA, -94 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 12-1-0 Vs. Bubble Teams: 3-2-1 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 8-0-0 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 48% (won 92%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 22% (won 50%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 30% (won 100%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 41 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 89.7% Our 3rd Finalist is none other than the Bruins own x Lafond. Coming into the Norris race tied with I HDC I for the most wins (23), Lafond posts a very strong case for the trophy. Having lost only 1 game against playoff teams is quite an accomplish, despite playing for such a strong team. Not only that, but boasting an insane +39 while doing so doesn't leave much room for criticism. Good luck, Lafond. @Leroy Alexander (COL) Record: 19-0-3 (Won 86% of GP) Stat Line: 1-11-12, +31, 9 Shots, 72 Hits, 24 PIMs, 58 TA, -83 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 9-0-2 Vs. Bubble Teams: 5-0-0 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 5-0-1 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 50% (won 82%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 23% (won 100%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 27% (won 83%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 38 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 74.2% Leroy Alexander of the Colorado Avalanche is our 4th Finalist for the Norris Trophy. Leroy is the only defenseman to not lose a single game in regulation this season. Despite only playing 22 games this season, you can't ignore the insane stat line. On top of that, talk about defensive dman much, only having 9 shots all season! In a game where defence really decides games, Leroy is your Grade A example, with his minimal offensive numbers. Good luck, Leroy. @TheHeroicDuck (NYI) Record: 20-4-4 (Won 71% of GP) Stat Line: 4-20-24, +17, 31 Shots, 128 Hits, 36 PIMs, 89 TA, -53 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 10-2-2 Vs. Bubble Teams: 5-0-2 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 5-2-0 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 50% (won 71%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 25% (won 71%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 25% (won 71%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 46 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 77.1% TheHeroicDuck of the Islanders is our 5th Finalist. Heroic is right, considering he is also one of the major reasons the Isles made the playoffs. Imagine having a 71% win percentage regardless of what type of team you face, whether it be Playoff, Bubble or Non-Playoff. Not only that, he has the BEST Takeaway to Giveaway Ratio of our Finalists, sporting only a -53, while also having 89 takeaways! Wow! Good luck, Heroic.
@I HDC I (MTL) Record: 23-5-0 (Won 82% of GP) Stat Line: 2-22-24, +31, 44 Shots, 145 Hits, 21 PIMs, 64 TA, -93 T/G Ratio Vs. Playoff Teams: 16-3-0 Vs. Bubble Teams: 5-2-0 Vs. Non-Playoff Teams: 2-0-0 Percentage of games played vs Playoff Teams: 68% (won 84%) Percentage of games played vs Bubble Teams: 25% (won 71%) Percentage of games played vs Non-Playoff Teams: 7% (won 100%) Advanced Statistics: Personal Goals Against: 52 Personal Penalty KIll Efficiency: 74.4% Our last Finalist is Montreal AGM I HDC I. First of all, I just want to say well done. I don't know if you helped make the schedule or not, but only 2 games against Non-Playoff teams is incredible. HDC had the strongest strength of schedule out of our 6 Finalists. The acquisition of D partner and fellow Finalist, Dannyy Briere, was also key to his success. You look at who he played and his stat line, and again, there isn't much to criticize. Well done again, and good luck, HDC.
@Joorrdan He was a nominee but after we looked deeper into his stats amongst the finalists he had the easiest schedule and only played 10 playoff teams out of his 27 games, not his fault but is one of the factors for finalists that didn’t get him in although he received a few votes just not any more than the other 5
It was 12, I missed 2 when I went through again He was 9-2-1 = 12 12/26 = lowest amongst finalists next to Leroy who had no regulation losses. Again amazing season, just all of the other finalists were determined better, feel free to argue against someone and provide more stats though and well look into it, but don’t see his stats beating out any of the other finalists (although I was one of the votes he received bc I don’t think who you play should matter as much as long as you get the job done and produce the stats as good or better than the guys you’re up against but don’t see who you would or could take out of the other guys chosen) *The community also voted on (strength of schedule) having more weight for awards when we put im everything up when I took over a couple seasons ago
22 wins, 2nd most hits out of the finalists, 3rd highest +/-, 4th highest in points, and most importantly far and away the best Takeaway/Giveaway ratio of anyone listed. Massive snub. You guys must've listened a bit too much to Carch because Bubble should pretty easily be top 3 tbh... Let alone to not even be nominated lol
Hits don’t matter 22 wins 2nd +/- 3/6 Takeaway/giveaway was voted by the community as the 4th most weighted stat but his were good which was why he was nominated Points 4/6 He seemed to be middle of the pack or bottom of the pack amongst finalists in most of the important categories He had the weakest schedule of all, which cost him the last spot in my opinion and again he received votes but not enough and it was Leroy who beat him out by a vote bc he didn't have a regulation loss
@TheHeroicDuck played Vs anyone anytime when needed he showed, he did not play with only the top line like some of these great d men did, 3 of his losses were playing with our 3rd line west coast guys..rip..also did not have any top line d partners to play with all season he played with diff guys all season..
