Trophy Tracker: Makar, Werenski in close race for Norris as top defenseman

To mark the three-quarter point of the 2025-26 regular season, NHL.com is running its fourth installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Norris Trophy, awarded annually to the top defenseman in the NHL as selected in a vote by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

At the quarter-point and halfway point of the NHL season, Cale Makar was the unanimous choice to win the Norris Trophy as the League's best defenseman, according to an NHL.com poll. All 16 voters selected the Colorado Avalanche star to win.

But with the season hitting the three-quarter point last week, the race is as close at it gets. Makar remains the choice, but received seven of the 16 first-place votes and 80 total voting points, with Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets also receiving seven first-place votes and 79 points. Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild and Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers received the other first-place votes.

"I think he's No. 1. I've said that for years," Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson said of Werenski. "He's an unbelievable player. For him being [6-foot-2, 214 pounds], he moves like he's 180 pounds, handles the puck like one of the best in the League. He plays with a higher level of risk and he's successful with it. He's not scared to take those risks. He's got that confidence.

"The guy's a tremendous hockey player. It's fun to watch every night."

Makar, 27, won the Norris for the second time last season, and has been a finalist each of the past five seasons. Werenski finished as runner-up last season.

"He's special. He's a generational defenseman, could end up being a top-five of all time type guy," Stars forward Matt Duchene said of Makar. "That might even be light, it could be higher than that. He's outstanding. He's hard to defend against. He plays hard in his own end. He's not a big guy (6-foot, 187), but he's good defensively. … He's got really one of the best shots from the point at finding holes to go right in or finding sticks."

Werenski (20 goals, 46 assists) is currently second among defensemen in points with 68, and Makar is third with 66 (19 goals, 47 assists). Makar has the edge, though, in plus/minus rating (plus-33 to plus-3) and power-play points (23-18). He also has 103 blocked shots and is tied for 11th among all players in takeaways (34).

"I think he just prides himself on being a two-way player more than people think," said Devon Toews, Makar's defense partner. "His point numbers, that's offense, but his numbers defensively and how he attacks his play in the [defensive] zone creates chances for himself and for his teammates to go and create offense based on his good stick and his good skating ability, and how he closes his plays out is kind of underrated and something you don't see from every top pair or top point defenseman in this league. I think a lot of them do, but I think he does a really good job of it."

The Avalanche have won five straight games and lead the NHL standings at 43-11-9 after their five-game winning streak was snapped in a 4-3 loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday. There's no doubt Makar has been a big part of that. He also had six points (two goals, four assists) in six games for Canada to help them win the silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

"I'm fortunate to be on a team that we're very competitive right now and it just elevates everyone's play," Makar said. "For me, it's always an honor to be recognized in those awards and stuff, but at the end of the day it's not something that's really on my mind for this season. I want to be up there, but just have to focus on team stuff for sure.

"I think just overall, the consistency in my game's been there night-in, night-out. Sometimes the results aren't showing, but I feel like my game's always been there. It's just continuing to evolve and grow as the season goes on, but that consistency aspect of it for me has been better as a whole I feel like."

Werenski, 28, is second in the NHL in ice time per game (26:26), leads defensemen in shots on goal (200), and the Blue Jackets have taken 53.3 percent of all shot attempts at 5-on-5 when he is on the ice. He's a big reason the Blue Jackets (33-21-10) have been a surprise team this season and are entrenched in the playoff race.

Werenski had six points (one goal, five assists) in six games at the Olympics, including an incredible assist on Jack Hughes' overtime goal for the United States in the gold medal game.

"He's going down in history on that golden goal. That was all him. A tremendous play," Gudbranson said.

"Just his size, his skating ability. I find when he's on the ice, he dictates the other nine [skaters] that are on the ice. It's hard to quantify that presence and put it on a piece of paper as a number. But being around him and playing with him as much as we have, you see it."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1-basis): Cale Makar, Avalanche, 70 points (seven first-place votes); Zach Werenski, Blue Jackets, 69 (7); Quinn Hughes, Wild, 33 (1); Evan Bouchard, Oilers, 19 (1); Lane Hutson, Montreal Canadiens, 13; Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders, 11; Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings, 8; Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars, 8; Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres, 5; Jakub Chychrun, Washington Capitals, 2; Darren Raddysh, Tampa Bay Lightning, 2

NHL.com independent correspondents Taylor Baird and Craig Merz contributed to this report