The results of the 2026 Norris Trophy voting were announced on Tuesday. The winner, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zack Werenski, topped the list with a total of 113 first-place votes.
Werenski totaled 1,589 points, 398 points ahead of Colorado Avalanche superstar blueliner Cale Makar.
As for another superstar blueliner, Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild, well, he wasn’t even close. Hughes only got five first-place votes, dropping him to seventh on the ballot with a total of 282 points.
The voters made it clear that offensive defensemen don’t really get much Norris Trophy consideration when facing well-rounded blueliners.
That’s the case of Werenski. The Blue Jackets’ star is one of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL. He can skate, move the puck, score, and play in a shutdown role. He’d come close twice before and came up short.
This time around, it was his turn to take home the hardware.
And it’s also a sign that Hughes, as effective as he was for the Wild during the regular season and playoffs, just doesn’t have the same level of play as Makar or Werenski, for that matter.
Hughes Not Only Offensive Blueliner Snubbed
There was plenty of talk about Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers taking home the Norris Trophy this season. The trend over the last few seasons had been that blueliners with unusually high point totals got a major boost in voting.
However, Bouchard’s 21 goals and 95 points weren’t enough to sway voters. His overall weak defensive play certainly had a role in dropping him to fourth. Bouchard received just 12 first-place votes, totaling 593 points.
It’s worth pointing out that Bouchard, like Hughes, isn’t known for their defensive prowess, despite playing on the blue line. As such, it’s good to see that voters respected the fact that solid defensive play should make up a large chunk of the criteria that goes into voting for the Norris Trophy.
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Could Hughes Capture Another Norris Trophy Again?
When Quinn Hughes captured the Norris Trophy in 2024, he was coming off a campaign for the ages. He scored 17 goals and 92 points in 82 games. It was a season in which the Vancouver Canucks made a solid playoff run, guided by Hughes’ leadership.
It was also another season in which voters were skewed towards higher offensive numbers. The same could be true about last year’s winner, Cale Makar. The Avalanche blueliner scored 30 goals and 92 points. Makar’s goal total marked the first time in three decades that a defenseman had topped 30 markers.
While Werenski had a solid offensive season this year, the former eighth overall pick from the 2015 NHL Draft didn’t have the highest point total among defensemen.
In fact, Werenski proved that a solid Norris Trophy candidate can dominate both sides of the puck. That’s what Cale Makar has shown. And that’s what voters validated by picking Werenski this year.
The expectation will be for offensive-minded blueliners to rethink their Norris Trophy chances. They’ll need to be better all-around players if they hope to compete with the likes of Makar and Werenski down the line.
Norris Trophy Voting Shows Quinn Hughes not Even Close