WingsFan95
Registered User
We all know the Norris is up and down and as a Wings fan I'm still confused with Lidstrom's 7th win. That said, no man serves as much of an enigma to the award as Raymond Bourque. Playing 22 seasons in the league, he had the kind of career you might expect from Orr had he stayed healthy, as in, pure domination at the position. Of course guys like Chelios and MacInnis were great in their own right but Bourque was the most consistent. Paul Coffey is my all-time favourite player but he was an offensive defenseman with some gaping holes on defense. This is in short to say your team would be better with Bourque as your defenseman than any other player at that position during that time period.
Back to the Norris, Bourque was Runner-Up a record 6 times (shared with Park). Additionally he finished Top 4 a blistering 14 times without winning. It was the 5 of his last 7 seasons in the league that saw him knocked out of the Top 4, in 22 freaking seasons. So, how about those 14 times? Focusing on the 6 runner-up finishes:
Wilson: 31.22%
Bourque: 14.11%*
Coffey: 39.33%
Bourque: 23.99%
Leetch: 53.95%
Bourque: 18.04%
Chelios: 44.67%
Bourque: 21.57%
Murphy: 20.67% *
Chelios: 29.06%
Bourque: 28.70%*
Lidstrom: 37.22%
Bourque: 15.57%
Some interesting races when he finished 3rd:
Langway: 31.75%
Howe: 27.34% *
Bourque: 24.51%
Bolded with asterisk is who I think deserved it that year. As you can see, only two seasons I feel Bourque had a better case, but as voting goes, it could have gone another way in some other seasons. I mean, I've only listed 7 of the 14 seasons in which he finished top 4, and although some of those are indisputable, if anyone would like, they can post their opinions on some of those 4th place finishes.
Back to the Norris, Bourque was Runner-Up a record 6 times (shared with Park). Additionally he finished Top 4 a blistering 14 times without winning. It was the 5 of his last 7 seasons in the league that saw him knocked out of the Top 4, in 22 freaking seasons. So, how about those 14 times? Focusing on the 6 runner-up finishes:
Wilson: 31.22%
Bourque: 14.11%*
Coffey: 39.33%
Bourque: 23.99%
Leetch: 53.95%
Bourque: 18.04%
Chelios: 44.67%
Bourque: 21.57%
Murphy: 20.67% *
Chelios: 29.06%
Bourque: 28.70%*
Lidstrom: 37.22%
Bourque: 15.57%
Some interesting races when he finished 3rd:
Langway: 31.75%
Howe: 27.34% *
Bourque: 24.51%
Bolded with asterisk is who I think deserved it that year. As you can see, only two seasons I feel Bourque had a better case, but as voting goes, it could have gone another way in some other seasons. I mean, I've only listed 7 of the 14 seasons in which he finished top 4, and although some of those are indisputable, if anyone would like, they can post their opinions on some of those 4th place finishes.