Karlsson can still win Norris if Sens miss playoffs The Ottawa Senators may not have a magical run in them to sneak into the playoffs like last year, but that shouldn't stop their stud defenceman from beating out Drew Doughty for the Norris Trophy, writes TSN Radio's Ian Mendes.

In the past few weeks, you can sense a shift in the Norris Trophy race.

The Drew Doughty campaign has gained a significant amount of momentum, with the Los Angeles Kings defenceman rising to the top of the ballot for many voters. Daryl Sutter gave Doughty the biggest endorsement possible this week when said, "He's the best player in the game." The Hollywood hype machine is out in full force to try and bring the Norris Trophy to Los Angeles.

On the flip side, the perception is that Erik Karlsson is losing steam with his Norris Trophy bid, despite the fact he's leading the league in assists and ranks third in league scoring. One of the biggest knocks on Karlsson is that his team is currently out of a playoff spot, and that is a factor that must be taken into consideration. After all, in the 61 previous years that the Norris Trophy has been handed out, no defenceman has ever captured the award in a season in which his team missed the playoffs.

And while that would seem to make this a black-or-white debate, voters simply need to look back at last year's results to understand that voting for Karlsson to win the Norris Trophy is completely acceptable — even if Ottawa misses the postseason.

In 2014-15, Doughty had more first-place votes (53) for the Norris Trophy than any other defenceman - despite the fact his Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs. Karlsson, who ended up winning the award based on second- and third-place votes, finished with 44 first-place votes. So clearly, a barrier was broken last year as a significant amount of voters elected to give Doughty their first-place vote. The Kings missed the playoffs and yet a large percentage of voters would have been comfortable handing the Norris Trophy over to Doughty.

It stands to reason that, by using the same logic, there doesn't need to be a massive philosophical shift in order to vote for Karlsson this season. The Senators making the playoffs should not be the biggest factor into whether or not Karlsson is worthy of winning the Norris.

The annual Karlsson-Doughty Norris debate is becoming like a Coke or Pepsi question, where everybody seems locked into their personal preference. We don't need to re-hash the merits of each defenceman because that argument has been done to death. But Karlsson's 2015-16 campaign has the potential to be one of the most impressive seasons ever put together by a defenceman. He is poised to join Bobby Orr as the only blueliner to ever lead the NHL in assists in a single season. Think about that list for a moment: Orr and Karlsson.

Doughty supporters will tell you that it's his turn to win the Norris, as if there is a lifetime achievement component to the voting. That camp needs to remember that a player like Nicklas Lidstrom didn't win his first Norris Trophy until his tenth season in the NHL and he was 30 years old. Lidstrom was runner-up in three consecutive seasons prior to that, losing out to the likes of Rob Blake, Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger before he finally captured the award in 2001. Lidstrom went on to win the award six more times, so there is plenty of time left for Doughty to rack up Norris Trophies on his shelf.

The message to voters is simple: If you want to vote for Doughty because you believe that he's a superior defenceman and is having a better all-around year, that is your prerogative. But don't keep Karlsson off the top of the list just because his team missed the playoffs. As the Doughty supporters proved last season, that factor is somewhat overrated and is out of a player's control.