A sampling of some pro-Doughty comments:
“Doughty plays in a tight system and sacrifices points to win,” said one Hall of Famer.
“It's Doughty for me...and by a wide margin,” said an NHL GM.
“Karlsson is amazing but No. 2 for me,” said another.
One Doughty supporter went so far as to lightheartedly suggest — at least I think it was lighthearted — that anyone voting Karlsson for the Norris should lose their voting privileges.
While Karlsson only garnered two of 21 votes, if the identity of his small group of supporters could be revealed, there'd be no jokes about suspending voting privileges.
Even some of the Doughty boosters acknowledged the debate has gotten a little out of hand, perhaps a touch too emotional or polarizing.
“It's gotten to the point now where if you say you support one guy over the other it's taken as a criticism of the other guy,” said an NHL coach. “They are both phenomenal talents. If I say Doughty, and I do, I'm not saying anything bad about Karlsson.”
One GM who voted for Doughty did acknowledge he's a little bit conflicted by his own support.
“Like a lot of people, I believe [Doughty] is due to win his first Norris Trophy, and I do believe that," he said. "But I am wondering about the timing now. Look at Karlsson's season; look at the numbers he's putting up. It's incredible, really. I do sense there's this sentiment to make sure [Doughty] finally gets recognition, but I am kind of wondering if, given what Karlsson has done, this may be exactly the wrong time to give it."
Yeah, east coasters have it all figured out. Seeing the handful of officials of late with ridiculous biases against the Kings makes me laugh whenever I hear someone say crap like that.
