Green really makes the Caps go and they’re certainly a star NHL attraction right now.

He’s the perfect starter (and often finisher) for their game, and only time will tell if he has the temperment, intelligence and durabilty to become a great.

Is he a defensive stud? Not yet, but I’m willing to wait. He’s only been 23 for a couple of months.For now, of course he will be in the running — #4 changed the criteria for the Norris forever in the sixties and Green certainly has great credentials right now for a big part of today’s criteria: offence.

One of the lasting truths of hockey is that defencemen with rare exceptions need time (ice and years) to become Norris trophy winners.

I’ve been very impressed with Wideman’s year as well.

On a related note, why is there so much talk about Chara winning the Norris this year? His numbers are downright unimpressive compared to the rest of his team. In fact, Boston gives up more GA/60 when he’s on the ice than when he’s off it. Chara has a BehindTheNet rating of 0.1, but Savard, Krejci, Wheeler, and Ryder all have ratings of 1.5 or higher, and Boston’s goalies have save percentages hovering around .930. It seems pretty clear that Boston’s success this season has been driven by their forwards and their goalies. Chara’s an elite defenceman, no question, but it really doesn’t look like he’s been driving Boston’s success—especially when you compare the Bruins of this year to last year.

I hadn’t been following Green’s numbers, but they sure are impressive. Put me down for a ‘yes’ vote—he’s a top contender for the Norris.

All the offensive production Green puts up doesn’t change the fact that he’s a less-than-stellar defensive player.

As a Wings fan, I obviously am a big fan of Lidstrom. He is just such a responsible and effective player on both ends of the ice, and this is something Green will not achieve.

This year, I like Lidstrom for the Norris. Taking my homer hat off, though, gives me Chara.

Have any of you (with respect) actually watched Chara “skate”?

He’s a pylon. Granted, a big, imposing, heavy-shooting pylon. But a pylon just the same.

He was routinely exposed in Ottawa by fleet-skating opponents. And there are times in Boston where he gets left at the altar while a speedy winger bears down on Tim Thomas.

If Chara is the league’s best defenceman, I’m Eric Duhatschek.

Yes Green is the best…..not even a contest. He runs circles around the rest of them and his scoring production is awesome. Tonights performance against the da panthers was brilliant. Issue closed!

People are trying to compare Green to Coffey…here is the problem…Green is a young fella yet. He has loads to time to mature and, in the end, he will put Coffee to shame. Mark my words…..He has more promise than any defenseman I have seen play the game.

Panthers definitely brought their ’A ’game tonight and had a 5 minute penalty at the end of the game most of it with a 5 on 3 advantage and the Caps squashed them like bugs. Green scored probably the most brilliant open net goal I have ever seen after scoring the game winner. Huuuuuuuuahhhhhh!

Oy. Run on poster.

Oy ve buddy yourself…come to Verizon and we send you home loosers.

I still think the Norris belongs to Lidstrom. There seems to be a “rush to anoint” the next great defenseman. I do understand the excitement of the horse race and the fun of comparing the merits of the next generation of Norris finalists. But let’s be honest, Lidstrom is the gold standard of defensemen. He thoroughly dominated the voting a year ago, and his performance has been only slightly below that level this year (and that’s largely due to a lingering elbow injury and the atrocious play of Chris Osgood).

My problems with the other candidates mentioned:

1. The support for Chara owes to a perfect storm of factors that don’t have much to do with Chara’s play. If Boston weren’t leading the league in points. Chara wouldn’t be considered the favorite. Get this, the guy is sixth in plus-minus ON HIS OWN TEAM (behind Michael Ryder, of all people). Clearly Chara is benefiting from his team’s play as much as he’s driving it. Oh, and let’s not forget, the Bruins are playing in an incredibly weak Eastern conference. I’d love to see Chara’s numbers when he’s not playing one of every three games against Ottawa, Tampa Bay, the New York Islanders, Atlanta and Toronto. Those five teams are easily the worst in the NHL.

2. Mike Green is an offensive force. But should you win the Norris without having a semblance of a complete game? And like Chara, would Green be putting up those numbers if he wasn’t also playing just as many games against the five worst teams in the NHL? I doubt it.

3. Boyle, Keith and Weber are all excellent players. They get less attention because they don’t play on the east coast. They should be in the hunt, but each comes up short in various ways. Boyle is more like Green than not, and Keith and Weber don’t provide enough offense to be considered the best. At least not this year.

You really have to watch Lidstrom on a consistent basis to understand how he controls a hockey game. He is a legitimate shutdown defenseman who puts up big points from the blue line. Anyone who watched the Wings-Penguins game last Sunday saw Lidstrom render Sidney Crosby thoroughly invisible. Lidstrom does all the little things that wins games: he defuses odd-man rushes, plays the angles perfectly, anticipates plays before they materialize, and then moves the puck back up the ice beautifully with tremendous skating, stick-handling and vision. (Do yourself a favor. Watch a Wings game and count how many seconds Lidstrom looks down at the puck. You won’t get above 10-15 seconds in a 27-minute outing. The guy has an otherworldly ability to play with his head up, which allows him to elude forecheckers, make tape-to-tape passes, and shoot on net with incredible accuracy.)

Someone else said it better. The next Norris winner should have to knock off the champ. And I don’t see that anyone’s done that this year (though I will admit the gap between Lidstrom and the field has definitely narrowed this year). But the award should go to the best defenseman, not just the best defenseman not named Lidstrom.