[News] Norris Finalists: Suter, Subban, Letang

[Coach]

Originally Posted by SebC

I've always felt that the guy who gets his points in fewer minutes is, all else being equal, the better player.

Thats a pretty narrow view, especially when comparing defensemen.

[Jackpot_Smooth]

I think Suter played harder minutes than subban as well.

[Stay Golden]

I like Suter more as a D man but voting will be close between Suter and Subban the stats lean in Subban's favor
+12 vs +2
11g vs 4
38 pts vs 32
SOG 126 vs 91
Average ice time is in Suters favor 27min vs 23.
I don't think the argument Suter plays against tougher competition will fly either.
That would be Eastern writers diminishing the Eastern conference, i don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.
Subban will probably get the votes.

[Komskies]

Letang had the same number of points as Subban in 7 fewer games. Either way I give Suter a 90% chance of winning this.

[sevenarms]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

I like Suter more as a D man but voting will be close between Suter and Subban the stats lean in Subban's favor
+12 vs +2
11g vs 4
38 pts vs 32
SOG 126 vs 91
Average ice time is in Suters favor 27min vs 23.
I don't think the argument Suter plays against tougher competition will fly either.
That would be Eastern writers diminishing the Eastern conference, i don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.
Subban will probably get the votes.

Why not?

Would Subban have the same point totals if he was playing against tougher competition every night? I don't think so.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by sevenarms

Why not?

Would Subban have the same point totals if he was playing against tougher competition every night? I don't think so.

Like i said if i was a voter i would give it to Suter...but most of the voters that are sports writers will i think give the nod to Subban based on stats.

Letang could end up winning this as well his +- is the best at 16 has as many points. 25 min average ice time. If he did he would deserve it. Letang played 7 less games than Subban and 13 less than Suter so he really put up the most impressive numbers but look at the roster he plays on.

[Erick Estrada]

Take Suter off the Wild and they are drafting ahead of the Flames. Takes Subban away from the Habs and they probably still get into the playoffs. It's no coincidence that Suter took the Wild from outside of the playoffs to the playoffs and the Predators went from perennial playoff team to out of the playoffs without him. I'm not a big fan of the crazy deals the Wild gave Parise and Suter but if any defenseman deserves that money it's Ryan Suter. Good to see he's finally getting the recognition he deserves after propping up Weber over all these years. The Wild don't score goals while Montreal scored a lot so just looking at +/- is not really fair to Suter.

[OzSome]

I have to pick Suter to win the Norris. The guy played with a rookie defenseman Brodin and still played well. I remembered listening to TSN panel saying Suter really misses playing with Weber but I think it was the other way around. Suter helped Minnesota to make the playoff while Nashville was the 3rd last place in the league.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by OzSome

I have to pick Suter to win the Norris. The guy played with a rookie defenseman Brodin and still played well. I remembered listening to TSN panel saying Suter really misses playing with Weber but I think it was the other way around. Suter helped Minnesota to make the playoff while Nashville was the 3rd last place in the league.

I think that is it right there why i like Suter to win he went to a new team, new system, new D partner who happened to be a rookie and he still was able to have the rock solid season without Webber.

[Owen15]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

guess the writers were not watching the flames this year......award should go to Butler - subban should be the bridesmaid

I was headed into the thread to say the exact same thing.Next years write in All Star...

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Take Suter off the Wild and they are drafting ahead of the Flames. Takes Subban away from the Habs and they probably still get into the playoffs. It's no coincidence that Suter took the Wild from outside of the playoffs to the playoffs and the Predators went from perennial playoff team to out of the playoffs without him. I'm not a big fan of the crazy deals the Wild gave Parise and Suter but if any defenseman deserves that money it's Ryan Suter. Good to see he's finally getting the recognition he deserves after propping up Weber over all these years. The Wild don't score goals while Montreal scored a lot so just looking at +/- is not really fair to Suter.

But it's not the Hart, it's the Norris, and Subban had the better year as a D-man.

[East Coast Flame]

Originally Posted by Stay Golden

I don't think the argument Suter plays against tougher competition will fly either.
That would be Eastern writers diminishing the Eastern conference, i don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.
Subban will probably get the votes.

Subban was quite sheltered on the Canadiens, while Suter and Brodin played the toughest minutes on the Wild, and some of the toughest in the league.

[RyZ]

Im a little suprised that Letang is getting almost no consideration here. He has the most impressive numbers of the 3 albiet he plays on the best team. He was over a point per game on D. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time that happened?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Letang had the same number of points as Subban in 7 fewer games. Either way I give Suter a 90% chance of winning this.

What if some MTL writers leave Suter off their ballots?

[East Coast Flame]

To be honest, I would take Letang over Subban.....but I still think Suter should win by a lot.

[Kaine]

Shame he was injured, Karlsson would have run away with this award.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by nik-

But it's not the Hart, it's the Norris, and Subban had the better year as a D-man.

Then Letang should win the award given he got the same amount of points, better +/- and a 1.09 ppg comared to Subban's 0.90 ppg? The fact that Suter only had 6 less points despite playing on one of the worst offensive teams in the league shows that he was involved in more of the teams goals than the other two.

The definition is pretty clear in that the criteria isn't only scoring;

The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League's top defense player who demonstrates throughout the season as the greatest all-round ability at the position.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by troutman

What if some MTL writers leave Suter off their ballots?

Would anyone really be surprised? Although there was some poetic justice in what happend in 2002 in that Iginla's career took off and Theodore's nosedived. Just goes to show that there is justice at times in this world.

[Ashasx]

Subbian wins because of eastern bias.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Im a little suprised that Letang is getting almost no consideration here. He has the most impressive numbers of the 3 albiet he plays on the best team. He was over a point per game on D. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time that happened?

Mike Green in 2009-10 with 76 points in 75 games? Karlsson was damn close last year with 78 in 81 games.