Calgary Flames: Why Mark Giordano is the clear choice for Norris Trophy

Mark Giordano is a Norris Trophy finalist at the young age of 35 years old. Giordano is coming off of the best season of his career, becoming the Calgary Flames first finalist since Dion Phaneuf back in 2008. So, how does he stack up against the other finalists?

Mark Giordano is seeking to become the first Norris Trophy winner in Calgary Flames history. Anybody who watched the Flames this year could see just how valuable he was to that team. The Flames went as Giordano went.

He put up some very impressive even strength numbers but also got it done on the power-play and penalty kill. Having all of this success at 35 years old really is a strong testament to the work Gio puts into his conditioning.

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Let’s start by taking a look at the league leaders in points amongst NHL defensemen.

1. Brent Burns (San Jose) – 83 points
2. Giordano (Calgary) – 74 points
3. Morgan Rielly (Toronto) – 72 points
4. John Carlson (Washington) – 70 points
5. Keith Yandle (Florida) – 62 points

As you can see, Giordano was second in the league in points, only behind Burns of the Sharks. It should be noted that Giordano played four fewer games than Burns.

You may have noticed that the third Norris finalist, Victor Hedman, is not on this list. He finished the year with 54 points, good for 11th in the league. Obviously, this award is given to the best defenseman, not the person who recorded the most points. So, let’s take a look at some other statistics.

Plus-minus is always a very important factor when deciding the Norris Trophy. Giordano had the best +/- of any player in the entire league this season. When compared to the other finalists, Giordano blows them away. Here’s how they stack up.

1. Giordano (+39, first in defensemen)
2. Hedman (+24, 10th in defensemen)
3. Burns (+13, 40th in defensemen).

These are staggering numbers and really should make the case as to why Giordano deserves the Norris. All three of these players were on playoff teams, which definitely helped their numbers, but even still, he had a far higher plus/minus.

Giordano led NHL defensemen with four shorthanded goals this year. Burns had one while Hedman had none. Looking at the powerplay, 46.3% of Victor Hedman’s points came on the powerplay, 33.7% of Brent Burns points came on the powerplay, and only 28.4% of Mark Giordano’s points came on the powerplay. This, along with his plus-minus numbers, shows just how good of a player the Flames captain was this season.

I could sit here and keep typing up all of the numbers that prove why Giordano is the clear choice for the Norris Trophy, but you and I would probably both get tired of that pretty quickly. The bottom line here is that there really is not much you can argue against Giordano. The numbers and his play speak for themselves.

However, the NHL has a history of giving out this award to the big name and not the deserving name. Just ask how Drew Doughty has been a finalist four times in his career (so far). This issue has already come up this year with Hedman being named a finalist.

Now I love Victor Hedman as much as the next guy, but there really is nothing that warranted him being a finalist over Morgan Rielly, John Carlson, or even Roman Josi and Kris Letang. He was named a finalist because of his name.

Given all of this, there is no guarantee that Giordano will win the Norris Trophy, because let’s face it, casual hockey fans probably don’t know his name as well as Burns or Hedman.

Let’s hope the NHL gets this one right and gives 35-year-old Calgary Flames defenseman the Norris Trophy. The Flames captain just keeps getting better with age and had a career-best season that is much deserving of this award.