Doughty was the best defensively among star defencemen in the 2010s. He was/is a bit underrated by people trying to be smart (DUE Doughty lol!) and achieving the exact opposite. Would have scored more on most other teams, but also probably would have had a few more defensive issues.
You're right that people try to project Lidstrom backwards and wrongly say that he deserved Norris attention earlier than he received it, but I don't think it matters whether Lidstrom's defensive style would have been as effective in the 1980s. Lidstrom's best years were in the 2000s, he wasn't trying to win 1980s or early 1990s hockey games in the 2000s. If he needed to adjust his style, and I'm not exactly certain that he would have, I'm confident that a player that intelligent could have figured it out.
Bourque was the shutdown guy in those years. He not only won the Norris 5 times he also was runner up 5 times. He knew how to play D and he always played against the best players.
I remember when he broke in the league he played against rookie Gretzky. On the bench Sather was trying to tell Gretzky something about another Bruin player and Gretzky said forget about him - we have to do something about that brick wall rookie D that skates like the wind out there.
Not only that. But back when they still did the coaches polls, where coaches were only allowed to vote for players not on their team, Bourque was always in the "best defensive defenseman" mix. Often beating prime Chelios and Stevens.
When he nearly won 2 Hart trophies, folks were outscoring him by 60 to 90 points, and he was doing some amazing things that didn't involve scoring to get noticed. He also played against the most stacked defenseman field of all time in their primes while competing for those Norris trophies.
If his centers were named Yzerman, Fedorov and Draper instead of Janney, Linesman and Bob Sweeney, he probably would have added a few more cups to that trophy case.
Folks always go on about how integral Yzerman was to 3 cups when comparing his playoff resume to Sakic, or how amazing and clutch Fedorov was when comparing him to Gilmour. Those threads come up regularly and it's always a burnishing job on their playoff performances and how "we would never have won without Yzerman performance and leadership!"
Nobody has those discussions about Janney and Linesman lol. Transplant Janney and Linesman to the red wings, and I bet folks would then be talking about Draper's selke and how great Shanahan was instead of praising Janney and Linesman.