Rasmus Dahlin is a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL\u2019s best defenseman.<\/p>\n
The winner is determined by a ballot among members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the conclusion of the regular season. The top three vote-getters from that ballot are designated as finalists: Dahlin, Colorado’s Cale Makar, and Columbus’ Zach Werenski.<\/p>\n
Dahlin would become the first Norris Trophy winner in Sabres history. He joins Jim Schoenfeld (1979-80) as the franchise\u2019s only finalists for the award.<\/p>\n
The Sabres\u2019 captain is also a finalist for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded \u201cto the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.\u201d Dahlin played the season under adverse circumstances, having announced in September that his fianc\u00e9e, Carolina Matovac, was recovering from an emergency heart transplant.<\/p>\n
Dahlin took a personal leave from the Sabres in November to be with Matovac during her recovery. He returned for a comeback win in Detroit on Nov. 15 and from that point on ranked among the league\u2019s best defensemen by several statistical measures.<\/p>\n
Dahlin finished the season with a career-high 74 points, sixth among NHL defensemen. His 52 even-strength points were just eight off Evan Bouchard\u2019s NHL-leading total for defensemen.<\/p>\n
But the totality of Dahlin\u2019s game \u2013 physical defense plus elite puck movement in addition to scoring \u2013 earned him a nod as a Norris finalist. Here\u2019s where Dahlin ranked among the NHL\u2019s six leading-scoring defensemen in other areas (courtesy of Stathletes):<\/p>\n
Hits \u2013 1st
\n5-on-5 puck battles won \u2013 1st
\n5-on-5 scoring chances against \u2013 3rd<\/p>\n
Chris Pronger, a Norris Trophy winner in 1999-2000 and a four-time finalist, referred to Dahlin as his top choice for the award during a Sportsnet broadcast in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s been phenomenal,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cI love the way he defends. Competes so hard. He gets under the skin of the other team\u2019s best player. And he\u2019s a talent offensively and he drives their offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dahlin\u2019s play helped lead the Sabres to an Atlantic Division title and their first playoff berth since 2011 \u2013 a personal milestone for the captain, who\u2019s been with the franchise since 2018.<\/p>\n
His season included a five-point performance against Toronto (including his first career hat trick), plus a \u201cGordie Howe hat trick\u201d in Buffalo\u2019s 8-7 classic against Tampa Bay in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so happy for him,\u201d coach Lindy Ruff said earlier this week. \u201c\u2026 For Rasmus to get drafted here, develop here, to want to stay here, to finally get to feel what it\u2019s like to be in the playoffs as a Buffalo Sabre, there\u2019d be no greater wish for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since entering the league as an 18-year-old in 2018, Dahlin ranks sixth among NHL defensemen in points (434) and fifth in goals (132). His 332 career assists rank fifth in Sabres history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rasmus Dahlin is a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL\u2019s best defenseman.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-629398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}