The NHL announced its three finalists for the Norris Trophy today, given annually to the player voted as best defenseman in the league. As anticipated, Zach Werenski has been named as a finalist for the award.
This is the first time in his career that he's been held in this sort of regard. It's well earned. This season, Zach led the Blue Jackets in scoring with 82 points - tied with Artemi Panarin for the second highest total in franchise history, amongst all players. He scored 23 goals and also led the team in assists (59), which ties the franchise record.
Already the most decorated defenseman in Blue Jackets franchise history, Zach was at an entirely different level this season. He improved upon his career bests across the board, breaking previous totals in goals (20), assists (46) and points (57) - all of which were previous franchise records amongst defensemen.
He scored 17 goals and 54 of his points at even strength - both league highs from the blue line, while playing 26:45 per game on average; a full minute more than anyone else in the league. He also scored points in 22 straight home games, tying him for the third longest such streak by a defenseman in NHL history.
In a year where not many people expected the team to do much of anything, Werenski's play dictated a different story. He finished second in the entire NHL in scoring from the blue line behind only Colorado's Cale Makar (92 points), and he was one of only two defensemen to lead his team in scoring this season (Vancouver's Quinn Hughes).
It makes sense that these three are named as the finalists for the award this season. They were the class of the league from the blue line this season, and it wasn't particularly close. Hughes finished third with 76 points, but he did it in just 68 games. No other defenseman in the NHL eclipsed the 70 point mark this year.
Can Zach win it?
I definitely think that Zach Werenski has an inside chance to win this award. While Makar achieved a rare feat with 30 goals (and had 10 more points), he did it on a team that had another player score 100 points. Zach led the Jackets in scoring by 8 points.
For that reason, it's not a stretch to argue that what he did was more impressive this year. Especially taking into account what this team went through just before their season started, and where their expectations were.
Werenski had the reins pulled off of him by Dean Evason, and he responded extremely well. Once they found him a consistent partner (Dante Fabbro), he never looked back. This year, he became the first American born blueliner to scored 20 goals and 80 points since Gary Suter in 1992-93. That's 32 years ago, and he deserves more attention for reaching that level.
He should be very, very proud. We are proud of him. Whether he wins it or not, at the very least, he's going to give Makar a run for his money in regards to the Norris Trophy this year. How many of us expected that when the season started?