Evan Bouchard Finished 4th in Norris Trophy Voting

Evan Bouchard
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Evan Bouchard

Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard finished in fourth place in the final voting tally for the Norris Memorial Trophy.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets had won his first career Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. In second place was Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and coming in third was Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres.

Since we already knew the three finalists for the Norris Trophy, those three names were already known. But what’s more interesting to see is who was on the downballot, including Bouchard, who was surprisingly omitted from being a finalist despite leading all NHL defensemen in points this year with 95.

Evan Bouchard Finished 4th in Norris Trophy Voting

According to the NHL, Bouchard finished in a close fourth place, just behind Dahlin, in the Norris Trophy voting for 2025-26, so he just missed the cut to be a finalist for the honor.

Bouchard finished with 593 total points, including receiving 12 first-place votes, 22 second-place votes, 36 third-place votes,  32 fourth-place votes, and 43-fifth place votes. Dahlin finished with 657 points, so Bouchard was close behind him, but far behind Makar at 1,191 points and Werenski at 1,589 points.

Below is the official voting for this season’s Norris Trophy.

2025-26 Norris Trophy Voting

 

 

Points

(1st-2nd-3rd-4th-5th)

1.

Zach Werenski, CBJ

1,589

(113-48-16-13-4)

2.

Cale Makar, COL

1,191

(47-62-37-30-12)

3.

Rasmus Dahlin, BUF

657

(13-23-50-30-26)

4.

Evan Bouchard, EDM

593

(12-22-36-32-43)

5.

Moritz Seider, DET

360

(5-21-15-21-25)

6.

Lane Hutson, MTL

357

(3-13-20-31-43)

7.

Quinn Hughes, MIN

282

(5-6-21-22-19)

8.

Miro Heiskanen, DAL

52

(0-3-1-6-8)

9.

Erik Karlsson, PIT

16

(0-0-1-3-2)

10.

Jake Sanderson, OTT

16

(0-0-0-4-4)

11.

Darren Raddysh, TBL

14

(0-0-1-2-3)

12.

Matthew Schaefer, NYI

14

(0-0-0-3-5)

13.

Charlie McAvoy, BOS

6

(0-0-0-1-3)

14.

Adam Fox, NYR

1

(0-0-0-0-1)

(10-7-5-3-1 points allocation)

Overall, it’s hard to argue with Werenski winning or with Makar and Dahlin finishing as the runner-ups, as all three of these defensemen had incredible years. But it does hurt for Bouchard, who had a tremendous season with 95 points and improved defense, though ultimately it was not a good-enough season in the eyes of the voters to finish in the top three for the award this year.

The good news for Bouchard is that when the NHL announces the All Star teams, it will likely be Werenski and Makar on the first team, with Dahlin and Bouchard on the second team. So while that’s not the Norris Trophy, it’s still a fantastic honor, assuming that Bouchard gets the nod.

Other Norris Trophy Downballot Votes

If you look at the table above, it’s interesting to see that other players such as Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings, Cole Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens, and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks all received first-place votes for the Norris Trophy, yet none of them were particularly close to being finalists for the award.

It just goes to show you that the Norris Trophy, and all NHL award winners, are very subjective. Sometimes, the winner is obvious, such as when Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie. But other awards, such as this year’s Norris Trophy vote, are far more difficult decisions.

There were a ton of good defensemen in the league this year, and more will be entering the league via the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. That will make the Norris Trophy voting even more competitive as the years go on. Players like Bouchard are well deserving of the honor, but with so many great players in the league, it’s not an easy decision for the voters to pick who they want to vote for.

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Evan Bouchard Finished 4th in Norris Trophy Voting

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