The NHL announced the 2025-26 Norris Trophy finalists on Thursday afternoon, with Rasmus Dahlin, Zach Werenski, and Cale Makar earning the honors. The Norris Trophy was one of the hotly-contested awards in years this season, as these three, together with Evan Bouchard, Quinn Hughes, Moritz Seider, and even Calder Trophy finalist Matthew Schaefer, earned looks.
Rasmus Dahlin, Cale Makar, and Zach Werenski are the finalists for the 2025-26 Norris Trophy 💥 pic.twitter.com/ShEir81u5i
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 7, 2026
Makar is widely considered one of the best defenseman on this planet, but others are beginning to close the gap on him. While it was one other great season for the Colorado Avalanche defenseman, it’s hard to disregard the seasons that Dahlin and Werenski recommend.
Bouchard led the way in which in defensemen scoring with 95 points, 14 clear of Werenski in second and 16 clear of Makar in third. Werenski’s offense for the Columbus Blue Jackets was the story all 12 months, and it’s rare for a defenseman to paved the way offensively. If the Blue Jackets had held on for one more couple of weeks and made it to the playoffs on Werenski’s back, nobody would’ve argued if he won.
The argument now could be that he cannot win because his team didn’t even make the playoffs, which is an unwritten rule in award voting by pundits but doesn’t necessarily carry much weight. It’s an everyday season accolade, and if a defender on a non-playoff team was far and away one of the best within the league, he should get the award.
The issue for Werenski is that he wasn’t far-and-away one of the best, which most will likely say is Makar. Nonetheless, in a gaggle of voters who’re beginning to value offensive defensemen, Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin is not going to get enough love amongst these finalists for the Norris Trophy, although he should win it.
Why Rasmus Dahlin must win 2025-26 Norris Trophy
The Norris Trophy has turn into an award strictly for offensive defensemen, and voters should start to maneuver away from that. Dahlin remains to be technically offensive, but it surely is his two-way game that makes him such a threat for the Sabres. He can run a powerplay and generate offense from the backend, as demonstrated by his 0.96 points per game, but his tenacious play within the defensive zone, a level of physicality that Makar and Werenski do not have, and a desire to combine it up make him the right mix of recent school and old-fashioned.
While Makar has the comfort of playing alongside Devon Toews for the complete season and running the primary powerplay, Dahlin has been a jack-of-all-trades for Buffalo, playing prolonged minutes with nearly every other defenseman on the roster, and his minutes with Bowen Byram, Owen Power, Michael Kesselring, and Zach Metsa all sit near the highest of the team’s list in all advanced analytics. Dahlin makes anyone who plays with him higher, which helped the Sabres break the league’s longest playoff drought.
Old-school hockey fans don’t love how defensemen are evolving within the league. It makes for an exciting brand of hockey, and everybody likes to tune into Makar or Hughes navigating all areas of the ice to contribute on each offense and defense. Nonetheless, a defenseman like Dahlin is a little bit of a blast from the past for fans who like their defensemen to be more two-way, physical threats. Voters fall in love with point totals, but Dahlin has one of the best defensive analytics amongst the three finalists, and that ought to mean something when voting for this award.
The NHL announced the 2025-26 Norris Trophy finalists on Thursday afternoon, with Rasmus Dahlin, Zach Werenski, and Cale Makar earning the honors. The Norris Trophy was one of the hotly-contested awards in years this season, as these three, together with Evan Bouchard, Quinn Hughes, Moritz Seider, and even Calder Trophy finalist Matthew Schaefer, earned looks.