The PHWA announced their mid-season awards earlier this morning, and the Dallas Stars made the cut. Defenseman John Klingberg took third place in the Norris Trophy rankings.
The Dallas Stars are back on the potential NHL Awards list.
After being present in the race for various awards like the Hart Trophy, Jack Adams Award, and GM of the Year for the 2015-16 season, the Stars took a drop off in 2016-17. Their lacking performance on the ice last season translated to the postseason as well, where they had zero finalists for any awards.
But with a new season and a seemingly revitalized Dallas Stars team, there are plenty of new potential candidates in the running. The one majority opinion from all Stars fans focuses on John Klingberg and his shot at the Norris Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s best defenseman.
We’ve already said it a few times and drooled over Klingberg’s performances plenty this year, so you likely already know the details of the argument. Basically, John Klingberg is an elite defenseman that hasn’t gotten a lot of credit this season. And that’s a problem, especially considering he is on pace for a career year that could very easily put him in the Dallas Stars history books.
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To sum it up in a paragraph, Klingberg leads all NHL defensemen in points by a significant margin, is almost on a point-per-game pace, is a dangerous leader on the Dallas Stars power play, is learning the penalty kill craft quickly. His possession numbers are incredible, he’s eating up heavy minutes, and is turning into a major blue line asset. All in all, Klingberg is turning into an elite all-around defenseman.
And now he’s getting some recognition for it. After initially being left off of a list crafted by the NHL Network of potential Norris Trophy finalists a few weeks back, Klingberg is gaining not only traction, but also an argument.
On Friday morning, the Professional Hockey Writers Association released their top three finalists for various NHL Awards. The results came from the voting results of 150 writers and over 2,000 fans. While no Dallas Stars made the list for any other awards, Klingberg came in at third in the Norris race.
Here are the results of @ThePHWA mid-season awards, voted on by 150 writers and more than 2,000 fans. I had MacKinnon for Hart. pic.twitter.com/EFPJhJltMD
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) January 26, 2018
Klingberg placed third, being outdone only by the Lightning’s Victor Hedman and the Kings’ Drew Doughty. All three players have a significant argument for being the best choice for the award.
In addition, this means that Klingberg beat out names such as P.K. Subban, Alex Pietrangelo, and Seth Jones. That’s an impressive list to finish of names to finish above at the midway point in the season.
Overall, this just means that Klingberg is finally gaining some much-deserved attention. He seems to be getting better and smarter with each passing game, and that’s good news for the Dallas Stars blue line. Let’s see what he does over the final 32 games to close that gap.
Next: Dillon Heatherington Earning His Spot On Stars Blue Line
It’s going to be a fun ride, that’s for sure. What else does no. 3 have up his sleeve?