I'm sorry, but your point makes no sense. I've tried re-reading it a few times and its unintelligible.
McDavid doesn't finish 1st in the Hart every year. Neither does Makar in the Norris. Bergeron in the Selke (when he played). The best or second best at a given time doesn't need to be who literally finished in what spot in the voting. If you look at average finishes in something like the Norris the last 3-4 years, Fox will probably be top 2 with Makar with a gap to whoever is third.
Rookie: Not voted
1st: Norris
2nd: 5th
3rd: 2nd
The last 3-4 years is his whole career...also Hedman has the same number of top 5 finishes since Fox started playing as Fox does, 3. Josi and McAvoy both have 2.
The average placement over that time is 3 for Hedman, 2.6 for Fox, and 2 for Makar if we don't include years they weren't top 5.
If you do include those years, than it becomes Makar at 3.75, Hedman at 6, Fox at 8.25 and the other 2 at 9.25.
So the "gap" between those players is .4. Or at worst 2.25 and 1.
I can see why people think players with more of a history and more team success could prefer them. I mean, Hedman has literally won two cups in this time period, and a Conn Smythe, along with making it to the finals a 3rd time. Only Makar really comes close to that kind of resume since he also won a Smythe and a cup.
Fun fact! Bobby Orr is the only defenseman to win the Smythe twice, and one of only 6 players total to win it more than once, with Patrick Roy having 3 wins, the most, and Gretzky, Parent, Crosby, and Lemieux being the others with 2.
Also, EK received 123 votes for 1st the year he won, so I'm not sure how you can say people didn't think he was the best defenseman that year. If a Norris placement, your main argument, is such a good indicator of who the top d-men in the league are, than shouldn't you also be putting such weight into those same people saying EK was by far the best d-man that year?
I don't really have a bone in this fight, but I think it's hard to argue that Fox isn't universally acknowledged as a very good player, top 5 D-man currently, and potentially a top 2 or top 3 d-man as well, but that he's underrated. I think it's also pretty hard to argue that he's been a *far* better d-man than Hedman