To the surprise of absolutely no one, Erik Karlsson is your 2023 Norris Trophy winner, given to the best defenseman in the NHL this past season.
This is now the third Norris Trophy Erik Karlsson has earned in his NHL career and his first in teal, with the previous two earned in 2012 and 2015 with the Ottawa Senators. EK65 also becomes the second defenseman in Sharks history besides Brent Burns to win the Norris Trophy.
Erik Karlsson was also up for the Ted Lindsay Award for the most outstanding player as selected by the NHLPA, but the Ted Lindsay ended up going to Connor McDavid.
I was 99 percent confident that Erik Karlsson would win the Norris, especially with the historic and unbelievable season he had in 2022-23 (25 goals, 76 assists, 101 points). However, I was much less confident about EK65 winning the Ted Lindsay, but it is also a huge honor for him to even be in that discussion as well. The resurgence of Erik Karlsson was the biggest bright spot for a rebuilding Sharks team this past season, and it only made sense for it to end with his third Norris Trophy.
On the other hand, now that Erik Karlsson has won the Norris this year, this will ramp up the trade discussion surrounding him this offseason. Although Erik Karlsson loves the Bay Area and I want him to stay on the Sharks, he has reiterated that he wants to be on a contender and win now. It's hard to imagine the Sharks without Karlsson, and I'm aware that it's probably in the best interest of both parties for them to work out a trade to free up a good amount of cap space and receive a haul of NHL-ready players, prospects, and draft picks while his trade value is still high. In all, this is an excellent achievement for Erik Karlsson, and I hope he continues to build off this amazing campaign and perform at a high level.
Sources: TNT, San Jose Sharks via social media, Brodie Brazil via YouTube
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