Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski has been playing at a different level this season. Through 56 Blue Jackets games (he's played in 55 of them), he leads the team in scoring with 59 points. Now he's standing out at the 4 Nations Faceoff, which has the national media giving him some Norris Trophy love. Hate to say it, but, we told you so.
Zach has been dynamic for team USA, as he has been for the Jackets this season. Through the team's three round robin games, he leads the tournament with 5 assists - and is tied for the lead in overall points. Even better, if you like advanced stats, his are really, really good:
had an error on the individual xGs for sweden this game. sorry karlsson, down to #4 ya go pic.twitter.com/3t7iZeJRX1
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) February 18, 2025
Those of us who follow the Jackets have been fortunate enough to witness him playing like a new man this season. He currently ranks third on the team in goals (17), first in assists (42), second in power-play goals (5), first in game-winning goals (4), and first in overtime goals (2).
All of this for a team that many of us thought would have a hard time scoring this year. Thanks to Zach and some of the young players stepping up, this hasn't been the case. It would be somewhat easy for a star defenseman to lead a low event team in scoring - but the Jackets sit 8th in the league in goals scored at the break.
The fact that Werenski has led the offensive charge from the blue line, for a team sitting inside the top-10 in overall scoring; would probably be enough to win him a Norris Trophy outright in a lot of years.
Unfortunately, we live in a modern NHL where he's got to maintain pace with players like Colorado's Cale Makar, and Vancouver's Quinn Hughes. Makar currently leads the league in scoring from the blue line with 63 points; but Werenski and Hughes are just 4 back. All three of them sit inside the top-20 in scoring league-wide.
One point that we have to make: while Makar is setting the pace; he plays for a team with another elite offensive weapon. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in scoring with 83 points, while newly acquired Martin Necas (64 points) sits tied for 11th in the league. The player traded for Necas (Mikko Rantanen) has 66 points on the season, good enough for 9th in the league. And, all but two of those points were with Colorado.
In my opinion, what Werenski and Hughes are doing is more impressive because they are achieving nearly as much as Makar, while playing for teams that aren't giving them the same level of support. This is what makes it a wide open three-way race for the Norris Trophy.
The last two months of the season will decide a tight race.
The last 26 games of the Blue Jackets season are going to be quite a sprint. The team is unexpectedly jockeying for a playoff spot; and if they do manage to get in, I'm not sure how anyone couldn't vote for Zach Werenski in the Norris Trophy category. In fact, at that point, we believe he deserves Hart Trophy consideration as league-wide MVP. We aren't the only ones.
Of course, a lot of this result will come down to how Hughes, Makar, and their teams play down the stretch. It's neck and neck right now, but these guys are both superbly talented as well, and could pull away with the blue line scoring race at any point. But, so could Werenski. He's playing well enough.
It's exciting to have a Blue Jacket player in the race for a major trophy again. We haven't seen this kind of season here since Sergei Bobrovsky was in the Vezina Trophy running. Hopefully, Zach's stellar play can carry over into the last part of the season. And, help this team make the playoffs.