Marc-Edouard Vlasic has a bone to pick with the NHL.
The San Jose Sharks blue-liner strongly believes there should be an annual award to honor the league's best defensive defenseman. Others, including this writer, agree.
"I hope, down the road, they give out two trophies to defensemen," Vlasic told San Jose Hockey Now's Sheng Peng. "I think it's absolutely absurd - they deserve it.
"The Selke? Of course, give it to them, best defensive forward. But there's none for defensemen, which is outrageous."
Defensemen are eligible for the Hart Trophy, but Chris Pronger in 2000 is the only blue-liner to win it since Bobby Orr's retirement.
Could a best defensive defenseman award be named after Rod Langway, who won back-to-back Norris Trophies in 1983-84 despite lackluster offense?
"It doesn't matter what they name it," Vlasic said. "They have a Vezina and a Jennings, they have two for goalies. They have one for defensemen, two for goalies, and the rest are forwards. That makes no sense."
The 37-year-old would've been a strong candidate for such an award back in his heyday. He received down-ballot Norris Trophy votes four times between 2014-18, finishing as high as 11th despite never reaching 40 points.
Vlasic's defensive excellence earned him spots on victorious Canadian national teams at the 2014 Olympics and 2016 World Cup.
"The only reason I'm pushing it is - I'm not pushing myself - even if I would have won 10 of them, or 12, I would have traded it in for one Cup," he said. "Individual awards, I would trade any one in to help this team. Any player on any team would say the same thing."
