Cale Makar Is Still the Norris Standard — but the 2026-27 Race Is Loaded
GOATIFYThe Norris Trophy conversation has become one of the best arguments in hockey because the position itself refuses to fit into one neat box. A defenseman can dominate by producing offense, controlling possession, breaking pressure with his skating, defending the rush, killing plays before they develop, or simply keeping the puck at the other end of the rink. Entering 2026-27, the NHL has enough elite blue-liners that almost every version of the job is represented near the top of the race.
That is why Cale Makar remains the safest name to start with, but not because the field is weak. Zach Werenski is coming off his first Norris after an 81-point season. Rasmus Dahlin has steadily climbed the voting ladder. Quinn Hughes brings a previous win, a new setting in Minnesota and the kind of skating that can reshape games. Jake Sanderson has quietly built one of the strongest two-way profiles in the league. Behind them, Moritz Seider, Lane Hutson, Evan Bouchard, Matthew Schaefer and Adam Fox are all credible threats to crash the top five.
Cale Makar remains the benchmark
Makar starts at No. 1 because his standard is almost absurdly stable. He has finished inside the top 10 of Norris voting in every one of his seven NHL seasons, has been a finalist in six straight seasons, has already won the award twice and has finished second once. For most defensemen, a season good enough to put them in the Norris discussion is a career highlight. For Makar, it has essentially been the baseline.
The obvious part is the offense. Makar can create like a high-end forward without giving up the responsibilities of a top-pair defenseman. He accelerates through the neutral zone, changes the geometry of a possession with one lateral move and can turn a routine retrieval into an immediate attack. Colorado can use him at even strength, on the power play, late in games and in virtually every other high-leverage situation because his game is not dependent on one narrow type of usage.
But the reason he remains so difficult to dislodge is that the production comes attached to territorial control. A defender does not have to pile up blocked shots to dominate defensively if his team spends long stretches with the puck. Makar's skating allows him to close space early, recover when a play breaks down and move the game away from Colorado's end before danger can build. That blend of offense, transition play and top-pair responsibility is exactly why his candidacy survives even in seasons when another defenseman posts a spectacular scoring total.
There is also a historical marker sitting in front of him. A third Norris would put Makar into a much smaller group of defensemen who have won the award at least three times. He does not need a narrative boost to be a favorite, but the possibility adds another layer to a season in which Colorado should again give him the stage of a Stanley Cup contender.
The biggest obstacle may simply be the standard he has created for himself. Voters can become numb to repeated excellence, and a merely great stretch from Makar can look ordinary next to his own peak. That leaves room for a challenger to seize the race if Makar misses time, Colorado slips, or someone else combines huge production with a breakthrough team season. Still, if the question is who enters the year with the fewest weaknesses in a Norris case, Makar is the cleanest answer.
Werenski, Dahlin and Hughes make the chase dangerous
Werenski has the most direct argument against Makar because he owns the trophy right now. After finishing second in 2024-25, the Columbus star followed with an 81-point season and won the Norris in 2025-26. Even more impressive, he has now cleared both 20 goals and 80 points in consecutive seasons. That is rare territory for any defenseman in NHL history, not just in the modern era.
Columbus also leans on him in a way that makes his value impossible to separate from the team's identity. He is not a luxury piece adding offense behind a loaded group. He is one of the primary engines of the Blue Jackets' attack, a minute-eating defender and the player most capable of changing how opponents have to defend Columbus from the back end. If he produces at roughly the same level again, he will not need to manufacture a case for repeat votes. The numbers will put him in the room automatically.
Dahlin's path is different. His Norris voting has moved from 15th to sixth to third over the last three seasons, mirroring Buffalo's gradual climb out of the league's basement. That matters because award voting often rewards the player whose individual rise becomes inseparable from a team's larger breakthrough. Dahlin already has the tools and workload of a true No. 1 defenseman. If the Sabres build on last season and remain a playoff team, he is positioned to receive even more credit for the franchise's change in direction.
He also plays in a market where meaningful games create attention quickly. A strong Buffalo season would put Dahlin's minutes, production and impact under a much brighter spotlight than he received during the years when the Sabres were out of the race early. The difference between finishing third and winning may come down to whether Buffalo gives voters a reason to see his season as one of the league's defining stories.
Then there is Hughes, whose case comes with more uncertainty than anyone else in this group. He is now a member of the Minnesota Wild, entering a contract year while questions about his long-term future hover around the season. None of that changes what he can do with the puck. Hughes is one of the best skaters and puck movers in the sport, and his ability to escape pressure, create controlled entries and manufacture offense from the blue line can alter an entire team's style.
Minnesota also gives him a fascinating stage alongside Kirill Kaprizov. If the Wild are legitimately in the Stanley Cup picture and Hughes is driving the attack from the back end, his Norris case could grow quickly. The complication is that every contract rumor or trade possibility could become part of the story. A midseason move would change his context completely. Remaining in Minnesota for a full contending season could do the opposite and give him a clean narrative built around elite play and team success.
That makes this tier especially dangerous for Makar. Werenski has the defending-winner status and historic production. Dahlin has the upward trajectory and a team story that could amplify him. Hughes has already proven he can win the award and has a skill set that jumps off the screen every night. Any one of them can turn a September prediction into an outdated document by Christmas.
Sanderson and the next wave make this race deeper
Sanderson is the player most likely to make casual fans wonder why they were not talking about him sooner. He has already established himself as a 50-point defenseman, but the more compelling part of his profile is how much of that offense comes without sacrificing the difficult defensive work Ottawa asks him to handle.
Over the last two seasons, Sanderson has been on the ice for only 2.25 expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five. Among defensemen with at least 1,000 minutes in that span, that figure ranked 10th out of 217. His expected-goals share was 54 percent even though a majority of his shifts began with defensive-zone assignments. In simple terms, Ottawa can put him into difficult situations and still expect the ice to tilt in the right direction.
He has already earned back-to-back top-10 Norris finishes, so a leap into the finalist conversation would not come from nowhere. The key may be the Senators themselves. Award races become easier to win when a player's impact is attached to meaningful spring hockey. If Ottawa returns to the playoffs and Sanderson continues driving play at both ends, his candidacy will have the statistical and narrative pieces voters usually need.
The depth behind the projected top five is what makes the 2026-27 race especially volatile. Detroit's Seider has become a high-level two-way anchor and could benefit enormously if the Red Wings turn their own progress into a playoff season. Montreal's Hutson will have the offensive numbers and the visibility of a contender, with the main debate likely centering on how voters grade his defensive contribution.
Bouchard is another player whose puck-moving ability can overwhelm a game. Edmonton is routinely better with him controlling possession, yet his candidacy tends to become a referendum on mistakes rather than the total volume of positive plays he creates. A dominant Oilers season could force that conversation to change. Schaefer, meanwhile, enters year two after an extraordinary rookie season as an 18-year-old defenseman for the Islanders. He may still be a year or two away from winning, but the trajectory is already steep enough that a major jump cannot be dismissed.
Fox should not be forgotten either. He already has a Norris on his résumé, remains capable of controlling games from the back end and now leads a Rangers defense reinforced by Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson. If New York rebounds after a strong summer, Fox could re-enter the top tier quickly. That is the defining feature of this race: there are more credible paths to a top-five finish than there are spots available.
Ultimately, the Norris will again force voters to answer the same uncomfortable question: what does “best all-around defenseman” actually mean? If the answer is overwhelming offense plus elite transition play, Makar, Hughes, Werenski and Bouchard all have powerful cases. If difficult defensive usage and two-way control receive more weight, Sanderson and Seider become even more interesting. If team transformation matters, Dahlin could own one of the strongest stories in the league.
For now, Makar deserves the No. 1 line because no other defenseman has matched his combination of consistency, peak impact and annual award-level performance. But this is not a race waiting for him to collect a trophy. Werenski is defending it, Hughes and Dahlin are capable of taking it, Sanderson is entering the conversation at exactly the right age, and a second wave of stars is close enough to turn a five-man shortlist into chaos. The safest prediction is not that Makar will win. It is that the 2026-27 Norris debate will stay alive deep into the season.
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