Adam Fox New York Rangers
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently the defending winner isn’t considered a top-three guy now?

As the NHL is reaching the mid-way point in the 2021-22 season, the league’s website is polling its 16 writers to consider leaders for individual awards.

On Tuesday, the league posted the breakdown of the votes for the Norris Trophy, given to the league’s best defenseman. Adam Fox of the New York Rangers won the award last season.

Fox, however, isn’t one of the top-three in the current voting according to the writers polled.

Fox, 23, is currently the NHL leader among defenseman with 46 points, two more than Victor Hedman. He has appeared in 42 games entering Wednesday.

He’s doing this with only 78 credited shots on net, significantly fewer than the players ranked in the top three in this vote. Josi leads all NHL defensemen with 152 shots on net; he has 43 points in 42 games.

Don’t get us wrong, Cale Makar is a special talent. And Hedman is going remarkable things for a two-time defending champion team in Tampa that had to play an entire game with only four defensemen dressed the other night.

But the idea that Fox — who won the game last year on a Rangers team that wasn’t near the top of the standings — isn’t even in the top three feels disrespectful.

And to have half the points in the vote that Makar received shows that Fox is being taken for granted while he defends his Norris Trophy win from last season.

-Follow ESNY - Elite Sports NY on Google News to keep up with the latest New York sports news.

Tab Bamford
Tab has written about MLB, the NHL and the NFL for more than a decade for publications including The Fourth Period, Bleacher Report and La Vida Baseball. He is the author of two books about the Chicago Blackhawks and has been credentialed for the MLB All-Star Game and postseason and multiple Stanley Cup Finals. He is the co-host of the Line Drive Radio podcast.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR