TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman is one of three finalists for the 2021-2022 James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is awarded "to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position," the National Hockey League announced Monday.
According to a release, members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association cast their votes for the Norris Trophy at the end of the regular season, and the top three vote-getters were designated as finalists.
Along with Hedman, Toman Josi of the Nashville Predators and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche were all named finalists.
Hedman "was the anchor of a Lightning defense that helped the team post a 51-23-8 record for 110 points, the third-highest total in franchise history. He recorded career highs and ranked among the top three NHL defensemen in goals, assists, and points. The assist and point totals set Tampa Bay franchise records for defensemen and his 20 goals tied the mark set by Dan Boyle in 2006-07," the release said.
Hedman played in all 82 regular-season games and ranked second in the league in total ice time with an average of 25:05 per game.
He won the Norris Trophy in 2017-19 and placed third in voting in 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. This is his sixth consecutive season as a finalist, according to the NHL.
The last person to have been named a finalist as many times as Hedman was Nicklas Linstrom, who was a Norris Trophy finalist from 1997 to 2003.
