Burns: Why Victor Hedman should win the Norris

In a little over a week, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will join the rest of the National Hockey League award finalists in Las Vegas for the presentation of the 2018 NHL Awards.
Hedman is in the running for the Norris Trophy, given to the League's best defenseman, for the second-straight season. In 2017, Hedman placed third in Norris voting behind winner Brent Burns of San Jose and second-place Erik Karlsson of Ottawa.
Hedman is attempting to become the first Tampa Bay Lightning player to win the award. Prior to Hedman's arrival, the closest a Bolt had come to winning the Norris was when Dan Boyle finished fourth in 2007.
But Hedman has a more-than-realistic chance to leave Las Vegas with the hardware.
Here's why we think Victor Hedman should win the Norris.

1. HEDMAN HAS THE BEST NUMBERS…
Victor Hedman's competitors for the Norris, Los Angeles' Drew Doughty and Nashville's P.K. Subban, both put up award-caliber numbers in 2017-18.
But neither had better stats than Hedman.
Hedman finished the 2017-18 regular season with 17 goals and 63 points, his 17 tallies tied for most in the NHL this season among defensemen along with Philadelphis'a Ivan Provorov and Calgary's Dougie Hamilton. By comparison Doughty put up 10 goals and 60 points while Subban registered 16 goals and 59 points.
Hedman's plus-minus rating (+32) was considerably higher than Doughty's (+23) and Subban's (+18) and second best among league blueliners.
Hedman spearheaded a Tampa Bay power play that scored 66 goals, second most in the NHL, and converted at a 23.9 percent pace. Hedman produced 26 points on the power-play to Subban's 25 and Doughty's 20.
Hedman's production wasn't limited to offensive totals either.
He set a career high for hits with 139, dishing out more than Doughty (127) and Subban (111). And he finished second on the Lightning for blocked shots (110).

2. …DESPITE PLAYING LESS GAMES
Victor Hedman had higher offensive totals than Drew Doughty and P.K. Subban despite missing five games with a lower-body injury suffered before the All-Star Break, forcing him to miss the League showcase after he was selected for the Atlantic Division roster for the second-consecutive season.
Hedman finished the 2017-18 regular season playing 77 games. Doughty and Subban each played the full 82-game schedule.
Hedman was fortunate to miss just the five games. In a home contest versus the Calgary Flames, Hedman had his left knee buckled during a collision with the Flames' Garnet Hathaway on January 11th, the team announcing a day later he'd miss three to six weeks with a lower-body injury, a significant blow for Hedman and the Bolts' blue line.
But the timing of the injury was fortuitous for the Lightning.
The game against Calgary was the Bolts' last before going on a week-long break. After resuming action, Tampa Bay played five games but got another break for All-Star Weekend.
Two nights after the All-Star Game, Hedman was back on the ice for the Lightning in a road game against Winnipeg, two days before the three-week threshold considered to be the low end of his rehab time. He logged 25 minutes against the Jets, more than anybody on the Bolts.
Tampa Bay dodged a major bullet.
And Hedman resumed his Norris campaign earlier than expected.
3. HEDMAN CONTINUES TO REWRITE THE LIGHTNING RECORD BOOK
During the 2016-17 regular season, Victor Hedman set a pair of Tampa Bay records for defensemen, tallying more points (72) and assists (56) in a single season than any Bolt before him.
In 2017-18, Hedman continued to insert his name into the Lightning record book.
Hedman became the first defenseman in Lightning history to post back-to-back seasons with 60 or more points. Hedman's 63-point season in 2017-18 was tied for the third best by a Lightning D-man in team history.
Hedman scored 17 goals this season, tied for the second most in a season by a Bolts blueliner.
His plus-32 plus-minus rating was the fourth highest in Lightning history and the best ever for a Lightning defenseman.
On February 8 in a home game against Vancouver, a little over a week after returning from injury, Hedman notched his 73rd career goal to become Tampa Bay's all-time leading goal scorer as a defenseman. Hedman now tops nearly every major career offensive statistical category for Lightning blueliners, including goals (now at 82), assists (282), points (362), shots (1,196), hits (696) and takeaways (309). Additionally, Hedman leads all Lightning skaters for career blocked shots (978).

4. HEDMAN WAS A WORKHORSE
Underscoring his importance to the Tampa Bay Lightning and their fortunes, Victor Hedman led the Bolts for time on ice for the fifth-consecutive season in 2017-18, logging an average of 25:51 minutes of ice time per game.
Hedman's ice time was the highest for Tampa Bay since Dan Boyle averaged 27:24 during the 2007-08 season and the third highest in Lightning history.
Hedman ranked fifth in the NHL for ice time in 2017-18 and set a new career high.
Hedman was counted on in all situations too. He quarterbacked the Lightning's top power-play unit and ranked third on the Bolts for average power-play time on ice (3:24) behind offensive stalwarts Nikita Kucherov (3:31) and Steven Stamkos (3:27).
He was one of the Lightning's best penalty killers too, collecting 2:35 penalty kill ice time per game, third highest on Tampa Bay behind Ryan McDonagh (2:56) and Anton Stralman (2:44).
In all situations, the Lightning wanted Victor Hedman on the ice.
And every time he hopped over the boards, Hedman delivered with an impactful shift, his play and leadership helping Tampa Bay achieve its greatest regular season in team history and bringing the Lightning all the way to the Eastern Conference Final and within one win of a third-ever Stanley Cup Final.