Evan Bouchard has made Kris Knoblauch a part of the Norris Trophy discussion after handling a workload that very few top offensive defensemen have to deal with.
This is where we should begin. Bouchard isn’t just racking up points on a powerful power play and getting easy plays beside stars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
He leads all defensemen in the NHL with 92 points, which is 11 points ahead of Zach Werenski, who is the next closest player to him.
Just this fact alone should put him in a strong position for the award. However, a better argument can be found in the details behind those numbers.
There has been a surprising development regarding Evan Bouchard right before the playoffs.
One of the main criticisms has always been about his defending. He still makes mistakes, and his number of turnovers gives critics something to point at. He has 122 giveaways, with only Werenski and MacKenzie Weegar having more.
But there are other important factors to consider. Bouchard has a plus-22 rating, which puts him 16th among NHL defensemen.
Out of his 92 points, 57 were scored at even strength, ranking him third among defensemen, only behind Werenski and Lane Hutson.
Then there’s how much he is being used. Bouchard plays an average of 24 minutes and 43 seconds each game, with only 10 players in the whole league playing more than him.
He’s also spending an average of 1 minute and 49 seconds on the penalty kill, which is a significant increase from the last two seasons when he hardly played there at all.
This is important in the discussion because the Norris Trophy often debates between two ideas: is it meant for the best defenseman overall or the best offensive defenseman?
If voters chose Erik Karlsson for the trophy in 2023 after he had 101 points, 101 giveaways, only 22 seconds of penalty kill time per game, and a minus-26 rating, then Bouchard definitely has a solid case to be taken seriously.
He might not win, though. The difference in defensive reputation is real, and some voters may not change their minds about that.
However, at this moment, calling Evan Bouchard just an attacking defenseman is careless. This season has developed him into much more than that, and it should at least make him a candidate for the Norris Trophy.
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