Green Means Go For The Norris

With all this talk about Ovechkin and the MVP, and how many goals he's going to score this year, I forget about that one guy named Mike Green.

In case you were off doing stupid stuff instead of watching hockey Wednesday night, Green scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season, and a franchise record 17th and 18th powerplay goals.

Green is now 4 goals shy of the franchise record set by Kevin Hatcher (34 goals in the 92-93 season).

With Green pushing his power play goal total to 18 on the season, it's one shy of the all-time single season record for power play goals in a season by a defenseman. Montreal’s Sheldon Souray established that mark with 19 power play goals in 2006-07.

Green has a plus/minus rating of +24 on the season. If he can move it up a notch to +25, he will become just the second defenseman in league history to record 30 or more goals, 15 or more power play goals and a +25 or better defensive rating in the same season.

The other guy on that list? One Bobby Orr, who had 46 goals (16 of them on the power play) and was a plus-80 for the Bruins in 1974-75. That’s pretty good company for Green, if he can pull it off.

Now after relaying all of these stats, I better cut to the chase.

Mike Green should win the Norris Trophy this season. We all know that his defensive skills have improved but aren't up to par with that of a Nicklas Lidstrom or Zdeno Chara. But the Norris Trophy is for the best defensemen, and Mike Green certainly is the best defensemen.

He came into his own last year, but this year has certainly been a magical one for Green, capped off by the record setting eight straight goals by a defensemen.

Mike Green for the Norris, because Green means GO!