Quote:
Originally Posted by Weitz
To be fair he is 24. Gio just had his first elite season at 30.
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And Gio didn't even get nominated. See what I mean? Even Gio isn't there yet.
A lot of the defensemen that win or nominated have had huge offensive seasons by then. Karlsson, PK, Dion. Schultz has had success, but not years like any of those guys. Basically half the output of those guys big years. So no, he's not going to blow up all of a sudden. To win solely on points, he's going to need 20+ goals and 60+ points. Again, he has half that. And those guys were that age or younger.
I dunno, you can just tell that a Norris is out of his reach. He's not good enough offensively, and he's really not good enough defensively. Even if he improves, which I would argue, isn't a for sure thing, he still has a LONG way to go to even be in the conversation.
So even at age 24, MacTavish is clearly just giving the guy an attaboy. Or he's insane. Or both. But he's dead wrong. He could be a top pairing on a bad team (not that he's even there now) and a mid pairing on a good team. But Norris potential? Not. Even. Close.