The NHL announced on Wednesday, May 1st, the three finalists for the 2023-24 James Norris Memorial Trophy award – Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks, Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche. The winner of the award, which is given to the top NHL defenseman annually, will be announced at a later time. Makar has been a finalist for the fourth straight season and won the Norris Trophy in the 2021-22 season. He finished in second place in the 2020-21 season, and then in third last season.
Cale Makar is probably one of the most solid active defensemen in the NHL, and even one of the top best of them all. During the regular season of 2023-24, he recorded his first career hat trick to spark a 7-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings on March 7th. His hat trick was marked as the fourth by a defenseman in franchise history, including the Quebec Nordiques.
He finished in second place in points (90) with 21 goals and 69 assists among defensemen, and he also finished first in points per game (1.17) playing in 77 games for the Avalanche. He had also been first in power-play points (39), tying for first with four short-handed points, and then third in shots on goal (231). Makar also led the team and was ninth in the entire NHL averaging 24:46 of ice time per game, first in Colorado in blocked shots (148) and takeaways (70).
On January 20th against the Philadelphia Flyers, Makar recorded his 300th point in his 280th game and became the second-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach this milestone, one game shy of Bobby Orr (279 GP).
This is the fourth time in his first five NHL seasons that he’s been a finalist for the Norris Trophy and is seeking to win the award for the second time. There are only three other players who have been voted as finalists for the award at least four times in their first five seasons – Bobby Orr (5 times), Brad Park (4 times), and Denis Potvin (4 times) – only two of them have multiple wins within that span – Orr (4 times) and Potvin (2 times).
