Whoever tears open the envelope to announce the best defenseman at this summer's NHL Awards could be forgiven if he lets slip "and the winner of the Nicklas Lidstrom Trophy is...."

 

On second thought, why not just rename the damn thing right now?

Lidstrom spends so much time with that fancy piece of hardware bearing James Norris' name, he may want to give some thought to renting it out.

In the six seasons since 2001 — remember, we missed a year because the owners and players wouldn't play nice — Lidstrom has sauntered up to the podium as the NHL's top defenseman every summer but one. Five Norris trophies in six years.

And don't look now, but unless something drastic happens —  such as immediate deportation of all Swedes playing in the NHL — he is about to make it a clean half-dozen.

A few days back, some of you probably thought I was ready

Read Full Post: Nicklas Lidstrom should own rights to Norris Trophy

Lidstrom is a no brainer for the Norris but he is only part of the puzzle in Detroit. That team is LOADED.

No question about Phaneuf being the heir apparent. That being said, I don't think he'll put together the kind of run that Lidstrom has. Not to take anything away from Nick, but there seem to be more factors that have surrounded him which have allowed his level of play to be much more visible, such as a deep team and the chance to shred through a weak division. The Dion doesn't have those luxuries per se. Neither do any of the other young emerging defensemen (although from a purely offensive standpoint, Mike Green may end up coming the closest to that).