NY Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson finishes in the Top 10 of Norris Trophy voting

Noah Dobson is a Top-10 blueliner in the NHL.

At least, that's what the results of last night's James Norris Memorial Trophy voting said about the 24-year-old New York Islanders defenseman. Vancouver's Quinn Hughes won the award, announced Thursday night from Las Vegas, with 172 first-place votes, while Roman Josi (NSH) finished second and Cale Makar (COL) third. Dobson finished eighth in voting with two third-place votes, 18 fourth-place votes, and 31 fifth-place votes.

Before the start of the season, the question was whether Dobson, who had 51 and 49 points the previous two seasons, could take the next step offensively and hit a rare 60-point mark for Islanders defenseman in franchise history. He accomplished that and then some, finishing the season with 10 goals and 60 assists to finish with 70 points. In doing so, he became the first defenseman to lead the team in assists since Nick Leddy in 2020-21.

During the first half of the season, there were polls and advanced stats that had Dobson ranked in the top three of all defensemen in projected Norris Trophy voting. Dobson was the primary catalyst as the Islanders' power play got off to a blistering start. As the power play slowed down in the season's final quarter, so did Dobson, but he was still able to become the first Isles defenseman since Denis Potvin in 1983-84 to reach 70 points (Potvin had 85 that season). The 60 assists are the third most by an Islander in the last 35 years, behind only 63 from Mathew Barzal in 2017-18 and Pierre Turgeon's 74 during the 1992-93 campaign.

Having signed a three-year bridge contract two seasons ago, the 2018 1st round pick is slated to make $4M AAV this season and will be entering the final year of his contract but will remain a restricted free agent. With a rising NHL salary cap likely leading to richer contracts, it may be in the best interest of the Islanders to sign Dobson to a long-term extension this summer rather than let the defenseman market set the annual AVV higher for players of Dobson's caliber.