00:00The Norris, which is the best defenseman, probably the biggest favorite, I guess, out of any of these awards is, or the shortest, I should say, is Makar, who's on the book, I'm going to plus 150, and Quinn Hughes is plus 200.
00:14So both of them pretty high up. And then a big gap before you get to the Wierenskis and the Bouchards and the Adam Foxes, Rasmus Dahlin, etc.
00:23But there you see it. Makar and Hughes, George, right out of the gate, obviously, the two big choices.
00:29Yeah, this award annoys me sometimes, because it's really not the best defenseman, the best scoring defenseman is what it's come down to.
00:37But it is what it is. We know that going in, right? So at least we don't have to worry about some of the smaller names who don't score as many points.
00:42You know, it's all the popular guys here. It's hard not to like Quinn Hughes, who's going to end up being a devil, by the way.
00:47That's going to happen eventually this year, next year, whatever it might happen. Those brothers are going to play together.
00:52All right. Makar, yeah, I like Makar. Bouchard gets a lot of pub there because of that shot, and he plays in that power play,
00:58and he's with Mel McDavid, with Dreissel. I kind of like Bouchard, maybe, to break that, you know, as far as the guy who is a name, but not the name.
01:06I do wonder if he could be that guy this year because he's going to score 20-plus goals.
01:10Yeah, that's possible because I think you're right. You said this award annoys you most of the time.
01:16It annoys me, like, all the time. Because all this award is is who scores the most points as a defenseman.
01:23Like, who's the most outstanding offensive defensive player? That's what it is.
01:28There is no lick of defensive metrics that get put into winning this award. Right, George?
01:36There is. Now, I'm not a fan of plus-minus and stuff like that, but there's nothing about, you know, blocking shots or being on ice.
01:45There just isn't any of that anymore. It's, oh, look at how many goals and assists this guy's got.
01:49I mean, that's why Adam Fox won a couple years ago. Guy doesn't play lick of defense.
01:54And he won the Norris that year.
01:57It's a lazy award. It's a lazy award. They don't want to do the work.
02:01Correct. That's precisely what it is. Like, this Hootson that won the Calder for Montreal this past year, he piles up points.
02:09And he's 30-1. You know, he's a guy that, and if Montreal's going to be good, as we think that they're going to be this year,
02:15that's a guy kind of further down the board that I would look at. I don't think I can go further than that.
02:20Like, I think Victor Hedman's days are over of winning Norris awards at 55-1.
02:26I just think that they're done. And, you know, Charlie McAvoy, 125-1.
02:31Eric Carlson's definitely finished.
02:34Sergachev's like, it's hard to get past that first group.
02:37Like you said, Bouchard with the shot and playing at Edmonton where he can pile them up is helpful.
02:42I think Darlene's going to win one eventually. He seems like the real deal, George, right?
02:47It's just too bad that Buffalo sucks. Like, that's his biggest problem.
02:51And that's an issue, right? Because you already mentioned that plus-minus probably not going to be too good, right?
02:56Now, look at that. That'll be his negative.
02:57But it's funny. When you were talking, he's the name that kept going through my head.
03:00You know, Darlene was on my fantasy team last year as well, so that helps.
