Capitals: John Carlson will win the Norris Trophy

We’re just over one month into the season but despite plenty of year left you might as well cancel the NHL Awards. Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson has the Norris Trophy on lock.

John Carlson of the Washington Capitals deserves to win the Norris Trophy for the NHL’s top defenseman. Honestly, he deserved it last season but this season his torrid start confirms his frontrunner candidacy. Out of many players who were homegrown, no blueliner had a better two-way game than Carlson.

Carlson has anchored a defense that was a revolving door around him just a few short seasons ago. The 2017-18 season Carlson led all defensemen with 68 points and finished fifth in the Norris Trophy voting. That season saw Carlson step up as a leader as one of the few veterans on a rookie heavy lineup.

Because of this, Carlson was counted on to anchor the load and his playing time increased as a result. He averaged 24:47 of playing time in 2017-18 and 25:04 the next season.

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Carlson finished last season with 70 points (13 goals, 57 assists) and finished fourth in the NHL in the Norris Trophy voting. Despite falling just short of the top three, Carlson was named to the All Star Game for the first time in his career.

The accolades keep coming for Carlson. Prior to the season he was named alternate captain. During the week of Oct. 14-20 Carlson was named the NHL’s second star of the week. Carlson was on fire to start the season and for the month of October was named the first star of the month and for good reason.

With seven goals and 16 assists, good for 23 points, Carlson set a franchise record for points in a month by a defenseman. Carlson found the scoresheet in 12 of Washington’s 14 games on the month, had eight multi-point games and a trio of three-point games.

Carlson’s 23 points bypassed Sergei Gonchar’s 22-point franchise mark that he set in January 2000 and tied a franchise record for points set in the month of October (Alex Ovechkin, 23 points in Oct. 2009). Carlson has 426 points in his career which ties him for the third most points by a defenseman in franchise history.

There’s no doubt Carlson is the best defenseman in the NHL and that’s why he deserves to be the front runner for the Norris Trophy this season. He hasn’t gotten this kind of recognition in the past but if he keeps up his stellar play for the remainder of the season, there shouldn’t be any doubt that he’ll be one of the three nominations for the award at the end of the season.