Silver Nuggets: Erik Karlsson, Rightful Norris Winner
Adam Proteau I was one of the 49 who gave Shea Weber my 1st place vote. Most coaches I've spoken with would take him over Karlsson at the end of a game.
And with that, I begin my rant. Peter always refers to the part above the jump in a Nuggets post as a "rant" but I seldom use it for that purpose. Even after the joyous celebration of the two major awards won by members of the Ottawa Senators last night, I cannot help but be a little rankled by comments like the one I have posted above from Mr. Proteau.
Now what's the point of ranting? Erik Karlsson deserved to win the Norris Trophy, anyone who watched him play more than a handful of games knows that, and he DID win. So that's good. What's bad is when you read things like what Mr. Proteau writes and you realize he votes on several major awards, yet clearly does not understand them.
I got into a bit of an exchange with Mr. Proteau about this tweet that looked like this:
Me: Is that the criteria for the award? Jack Adams doesn't go to the best coach in the league, just the coach that had the best year. The Norris should be the same.
Proteau: And that's my point. If he's who the coaches want that year, he's the best that year.
To me, that is inherently flawed. If I'm a coach, I want the best PLAYER on my team, not the guy having the best year. You would find few who argue that Erik Karlsson is a better all-around defenseman than Shea Weber (except maybe Adnan and a few loyal Sens fans who don't watch Weber often). So coaches would choose Weber. However, Erik Karlsson had a better year than Shea Weber, and therefore deserves the Norris, whether he's the best defenseman in the league or not, he was the defenseman with the best season.
And why aren't other awards voted upon the same as Proteau suggests the Norris should be? I'm sure if you asked coaches last year, they wouldn't have said that they wanted Corey Perry on their team at the end of the game. Nor would they have likely said they wanted one of the Sedins. They might have said Evgeni Malkin, or Steven Stamkos or most likely, Sidney Crosby. Yet Perry won the Hart Trophy, and deservedly so. He had the best season of the whole bunch. That didn't make him the best player in the league. Just the one with the best season.
Lastly, the thing Proteau's original tweet doesn't specify is whether you are winning or losing at the end of the game. Because if you need a goal at the end of the game, I bet you coaches would like a game changer like Karlsson helping them score it.
End Rant.
Links to follow the jump.
Senators Links
- Ken Warren does us all a great service by providing us with an excellent recap of the NHL awards last night, including an interview with Norris Trophy winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was emotional and overwhelmed. [Warren]
- Another great recap of the awards and how the voting broke down for each. Cool to see Jason Spezza finished 6th in Hart voting and Erik Karlsson finished 8th. [PuckDaddy]
- Daniel Alfredsson won the King Clancy award for community service and there is no player more deserving. Here is an article about that. At the bottom you will find voting for the First and Second team allstars. Thanks Nichols! [6thSens]
- Apparently Karlsson took Alfie out for a lovely dinner. Here is a nice interview with the Captain from Vegas. [SensExtra]
- Man the WTYKY guys really get down to business when they write articles. This is an EXTREMELY thorough review of the Karlsson contract and is well worth the read! [WTYKY]
- The Senators are officially out of the Nash sweepstakes, according to Nichols. This I think calls for a collective phew! [6thSens]
- Amelia writes up a great UFA dossier on Jesse Winchester. Not sure if he will be brought back with the glut of bottom six guys we have and the young players we want to work in, but we will see! [SSS]
- Nichols transcribes yet ANOTHER interview with Pierre Dorian, if you are into that sort of thing. [6thSens]