Viewed as neck and neck with Cale Makar for the best defenceman in the National Hockey League, Quinn Hughes was not recognized for that by voters for the James Norris Trophy for the 2025-26 season.

The 2023-24 Norris Trophy winner was left off enough top three of ballots that he was not named a finalist for the 2025-26 best defenceman award. The mid-season trade could have played a part in the decision, but his numbers are still undeniable. In 26 games on the sinking Vancouver Canucks, Hughes scored two goals and 21 assists for 23 points in 26 games. And in 48 games with the rising Minnesota Wild, the 5’10” blueliner had five goals and 48 assists for 53 points. He finished the season with 76 points in 74 games, good for fifth among NHL defencemen.

Shockingly, that stat profile was not good enough to draw top-three consideration for Hughes. But that’s more of a testament to how strong the race was, rather than a knock on Hughes.

The Norris Trophy is presented annually to the defenceman who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position.

The Buffalo Sabres snapped their 14-year playoff drought this season, and the play from their captain was a large reason why. Dahlin scored 19 goals and 55 assists for 74 points, with a plus-18 rating while averaging over 24 minutes per game. The Swede’s point totals were only bested on the Sabres by Tage Thompson, who had 81. Among league-wide blueliners, Dahlin’s 74 points ranked sixth, and his 19 goals were seventh. This is the first time in his eight-year NHL career that Dahlin was a finalist for the award.

Makar is viewed as the league’s best defenceman, so seeing him among the top three in voting should not be surprising. However, this was considered a down year by his standards. Makar finished the regular season with 20 goals and 59 assists for 79 points in 77 games, with a plus-32 rating in nearly 25 minutes of average ice time. Despite his lower(ish) numbers, Makar still finished third in defensive scoring this season. The right-shot defenceman is the reigning Norris Trophy winner, which was his second in four seasons. Makar has been nominated for the award for the past five seasons.

Over the past two seasons, Werenski has truly ascended into one of the league’s best blueliners. Last year, he registered 82 points in 81 games. This season, he bested his points-per-game average, but finished one point shy of matching the career-high he set last season. In 75 games in 2025-26, Werenski scored 22 goals and 59 assists for 81 points, with a plus-seven rating in 26:37 minutes of average ice time. Last season, Werenski finished as the runner-up to Makar. Will he finally get over the hump this season?

The Bill Masterton Trophy is presented annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

While being up for the Norris Trophy, Dahlin is also nominated for the Bill Masterton. Dahlin was healthy this season but missed five games after flying back to Sweden to be with his sick fiancée. Last summer, the couple were vacationing in France when her heart suddenly failed. Dahlin shared that she nearly died and required CPR on “multiple occasions and up to a couple of hours at a time”. She spent weeks on life support before receiving a heart transplant. The perseverance Dahlin displayed to have a career year while going through this makes him deserving of this award.

Following their Stanley Cup Championship in 2022, Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog missed the next three years of game action as he rehabbed from a nasty knee injury. Landeskog underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after the Stanley Cup win. He was set to miss the first 12 weeks of the season, but missed the entire season, with the Avalanche announcing that Landeskog required a cartilage transplant that would keep him out for the entire 2023-24 season as well. After a conditioning stint in the AHL, Landeskog returned for five playoff games last year. And after a healthy offseason, Landeskog played 60 regular season games this year, scoring 14 goals and 21 points for 35 points. Returning to action after such a lengthy injury shows how dedicated he is to the game.

After taking a two-year hiatus from the game to recover from Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and long-COVID, Toews made his return to the NHL for the 2025-26 season. He returned to the NHL not with the Chicago Blackhawks, but with his hometown team, the Winnipeg Jets. It was a slow return for the three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Toews put together a full 82-game campaign, scoring 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points as a 38-year-old.