Norris snub seems to be fuelling Karlsson
How many points will it take to win the Norris Trophy this season? Fifty? Sixty? Seventy? Perhaps we’re phrasing the question wrong. After Erik Karlsson failed to win the Norris Trophy last season, despite finishing in the top four in overall scoring with 82 points in 82 games, how many points will it take to lose the award?
In other words, when does scoring go from being a positive to a negative for a defenceman?
That was the narrative at the NHL Awards last season, when Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty won the Norris Trophy having amassed 51 points — 31 fewer than Ottawa’s Karlsson. For Karlsson, who was far more productive than when he won the Norris Trophy with 66 points in 2014-15, the message was clear: his offence was highly impressive, but the implication was he obviously didn’t care about playing defence.
In reality, he scored because the Senators needed him to.
“If we were to swap teams, it would be pretty equal numberswise,” Karlsson said of him and Doughty in June. “I think that we play very similar in every aspect of the game, we just play on different teams. When (Doughty) came to LA, they were not very good and they’ve been really good for the past five, six years that he’s been there. That changes a little bit how he plays the game.”
This year, Karlsson is once again among the league leaders. But in an entirely different category: blocked shots.
“I said it (on Thursday): we win the game and yeah, Erik Karlsson didn’t get a point, but he blocked eight shots in a game,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher told Sportsnet’s Hockey Central at Noon. “We have him out there against top lines, we have him out there in the last minute … there’s nothing more than you want from your top guys.”
Many wondered if Karlsson’s game would change when Boucher was hired. After all, the Senators had allowed the most shots against in the league last season and part of the reason was Karlsson was allowed to play a freewheeling style that created as many scoring opportunities as it did turnovers. But Boucher has not stifled Karlsson’s creativity.
If anything, he’s implemented a system in which Karlsson and the rest of the team can flourish.
Karlsson, who once again leads the Senators in scoring, is still putting up big numbers. After 20 games, Karlsson is ranked fourth amongst defenceman in scoring — behind San Jose’s Brent Burns and Montreal’s Shea Weber and Andrei Markov — with 16 points (He had 22 points in 20 games last season).
But at the same time, the Senators were in third place in the Atlantic Division as of Thursday, having reduced their shots against by almost two per game. Their penalty kill, which was second worst in the league last season, is now ranked ninth.
“I think you always ask yourself under a new coaching staff or under a new system how will Erik Karlsson play,” Senators GM Pierre Dorion said this week. “But I think Guy said it best when he said he’s not going to take away from Erik’s offensive game and instead improve upon his defensive game.
“I’ll go on record to say this today, I feel the best decision I’ve made as a general manager was picking Guy Boucher. I really feel he was the right man for the job.”
Under Boucher, Karlsson is still scoring. But he’s doing so much more than he has ever done in the past. He leads the league with 61 blocked shots (seven more than the next player, Mark Giordano, who has played two more games), is averaging more than two minutes on the penalty kill (double from what he played last season) and is maintaining a plus-5 rating while matching up against the other teams’ top line.
Karlsson might not admit it, but last year’s Norris Trophy snub seems to have had an effect on his play this season. He’s still putting up points. But like Doughty last year, it’s not just the points with Karlsson anymore.
“Only praise can be thrown at Erik,” said Dorion. “I think where he has impressed me the most is his leadership skills. Erik’s maturity level has reached another level in how he leads the team by example now and how his practice habits are better, how he’s ready to be accountable when he makes a mistake.”