Noah Dobson Could Win a Norris Trophy
The Islanders have a Norris Trophy-worthy defenseman, and his name is not Adam Pelech.
Noah Dobson has been one of the hottest NHL defensemen in 2022. He has 20 points (6-14—20) in 28 games since Jan. 1 and 18 points in his last 21 games. He’s also one of five Islanders with a positive plus/minus. That’s a significant statistic on a team that likely won’t make the playoffs.
Since Jan. 23, Dobson trails only Aaron Ekblad, Roman Josi and Cale Makar in points by defensemen. He’s in a six-way tie for most goals by defensemen in that span, too.
What makes his development so exciting is that Dobson is putting up these numbers with bad partners. Dobson played 44 games with Zdeno Chara, and had an expected goals percentage of 49.5 (Pelech and Pulock lead the team with 67%). Any xG% below 50% means you’re on the ice for more expected goals against than you are for expected goals for.
So in order to have a positive plus/minus, Dobson must be a power-play wizard. Indeed, Dobson has 13 power-play points, the most on the team.
Dobson is also solid at even-strength. In the 11 games head coach Barry Trotz paired him with Andy Greene, the pair’s xG%, increased to 52.6%. Chara is clearly holding him back.
It took the Colorado Avalanche getting Cale Makar a good partner to put him in the Norris Trophy conversation. Sam Girard, and now Devon Toews, have been terrific compliments for him. If the Islanders could find a partner for Dobson, perhaps he could take his game to yet another level next season.
Not to mention, Dobson is already drawing comparisons to Makar from the likes of NHL analyst Kevin Weekes.
One young Defenseman on the rise and not getting enough shine ; @NYIslanders Noah Dobson. He’s smooth, silky, great vision, hockey I.Q, and has 10 PTS in his last 10 games.
He has some Cale Makar to his game.@espn @NHLNetwork @NHL #HockeyTwitter— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) March 8, 2022
Dobson has been a star since his breakout game against the Chicago Blackhawks in December (the one where he scored the game-tying goal with 2.3 seconds left). His recent hot stretch could be just a stretch, but he’s shown flashes of incredible potential that should have Islanders fans excited for the future.
Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.
