Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Drew Doughty Jersey Card

Look, yes, Drew Doughty was probably due to win a Norris Trophy at this point, but as Puck Daddy puts it, Erik Karlsson kind of got robbed at last night's NHL Awards - kind of like when Phil Kessel was robbed of the Conn Smythe by Sidney "we have to make him the legend we billed him as" Crosby - except worse.

Voters - journalists who are often accused of having an "East Coast" bias they had to prove wrong - deliberately did not vote for certain elite defensemen who had excellent seasons (Duncan Keith, P.K. Subban, Marc-Édouard Vlasic), and some who had terrible seasons got some nods (Ryan Suter, François Beauchemin) just to ensure Doughty ended up with more tallies than Karlsson, who already has two Norrises, one of them considered to be solely due to his point production and not his overall skill-set (which has, to be honest, improved a lot).

This is the exact same situation that made Martin Brodeur retire with four Vezinas while Patrick Roy - who is in the conversation as one of the best goalies of all time - has three. And that made Miikka Kiprusoff - the best goalie on earth for a full six-year span - end up with as many as José Theodore (a terrific goalie who has had an unbelievable season and at least three more excellent ones, but probably not a Hall Of Famer): one.

If we're following the "deserving" list, Victor Hedman, Shea Weber and Mark Giordano should probably get the Norris nominations next year...

But, hey, Doughty won. It's done.

Here's hoping he helps the Los Angeles Kings make a deep playoff run next year, as we look at him wearing the team's white (away) uniform, on card #GJ-DD from Upper Deck's 2015-16 Series 1 set and UD Game Jersey sub-set, with a matching game-worn jersey swatch:
Chances are he'll add a World Cup title to his resume in September, though I won't be rooting for his Team Canada; I'll probably be more interested by the two made-up teams, the North American Young Stars and Team (Rest of) Europe.

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