Tough choice, but Chara gets Norris vote

You can make a strong case for dynamic Erik Karlsson, powerful Shea Weber and monstrous Zdeno Chara. Three weeks ago, I was leaning toward voting for Karlsson because his offensive brilliance was historic.

At one point, I believe he was as high as sixth or seventh in NHL scoring. When the season was over, he had 25 more points than any other defensemen. His offensive dominance was overwhelming.

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But the trophy is for all-around play and I just couldn’t get past the fact that Karlsson averaged only 33 seconds of short-handed play. I kept coming back to the fact that both Chara and Weber are overwhelming factors on the defensive end. Plus, offensively they are excellent — not at Karlsson’s level — but

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