Who Is the Best Defenseman in the NHL Right Now? The Case for Makar — and Why Werenski Won't Go Away

The Norris Trophy vote this spring is going to be the closest in years. Cale Makar has won it twice, been a finalist five straight times, and put up numbers that make most forwards look ordinary. But through 67 games this season he has 69 points and a plus-32 — which, for any other defenseman, would be an instant Norris conversation-ender. For Makar, people are asking whether he’s on a down year.

That tells you everything about the standard he set.

Why Makar Still Wins the Argument

On March 18, Makar scored his 20th goal of the 2025-26 season against the Stars — making him the first defenseman since Phil Housley to hit 20 goals in three consecutive seasons. Let that sit for a second. The previous benchmark was a Hall of Famer. Makar is doing it like it’s a Tuesday.

His plus-32 leads the NHL among defensemen. He’s averaging over 25 minutes a night, leads Colorado’s back end in blocked shots with 106, and carries 24 power-play points. The complete game is what separates him. Most elite offensive defensemen have a hole you can find on the penalty kill or in their own zone. Makar doesn’t give you that. He’s as dangerous at one end as he is reliable at the other.

According to NHL.com’s Norris Trophy tracker, Makar and Werenski each received seven first-place votes in the latest polling, with Makar edging out just 70 voting points to Werenski’s 69. That’s not a gap — that’s a rounding error.

Since the start of the 2021-22 season, he is the only active defenseman averaging at least a point per game across his entire career. The last defenseman to match this level of sustained offensive production was Paul Coffey. That is not a sentence I write lightly.

The Werenski Problem

Here’s where it gets interesting. Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets is currently second among defensemen in scoring with 68 points (20 goals, 46 assists) in the same stretch. He leads all NHL players in average ice time at 26:26 per game. He’s carrying a team that has no business being in the playoff picture, and he is doing it night after night against every opposition’s top line.

Columbus isn’t Colorado. Werenski doesn’t get Devon Toews next to him. He doesn’t get Nathan MacKinnon driving offense. His plus/minus is going to look different because he’s on a different planet from a roster standpoint. And yet here he is, statistically toe-to-toe with the best defenseman of his generation.

Last season, Werenski finished as Norris runner-up with 82 points — 23 goals and 59 assists in 81 games — setting Blue Jackets single-season records at the position in all three categories. He doesn’t look like a fluke anymore. He looks like an elite player who’s been under the radar because his team hasn’t given the hockey world a reason to pay attention until now.

The eye test tracks with the numbers too. Werenski moves at 6-foot-2, 214 pounds like someone who’s 50 pounds lighter. His puck-handling under pressure, his ability to activate and create off the rush, his willingness to accept risk in the offensive zone — it’s the kind of play that reminds you that some defensemen are built differently. His own teammate, veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson, said it plainly: “He’s an unbelievable player… He moves like he’s 180 pounds.”

My honest take: if Werenski finishes the season on this trajectory, the voters who give him the Norris will not be wrong.

What About Bouchard and Hughes?

Evan Bouchard leads all defensemen in total scoring with 77 points (19 goals, 58 assists) — a nine-point gap over his closest competitor. On raw numbers, that is the most compelling Norris case in the league right now. But the Norris has never been purely a scoring race, and for good reason. Bouchard’s defensive deficiencies in Edmonton are real and well-documented. The Oilers live and die by their attack; Bouchard fits that system perfectly and his production is undeniable. But you cannot make a serious argument that he is the complete defenseman Makar or Werenski is.

Quinn Hughes, now with the Minnesota Wild, remains in the rare air of top-five defensemen on the planet. He’s on pace for his fifth straight 60-assist season — company that includes only Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, and Paul Coffey. Hughes won the Norris in 2023-24. His case this year has been diluted by injuries, but when he plays, the Wild are a different team.

And then there’s Adam Fox, who has quietly put up 59 points in 66 games despite the Rangers falling apart around him. Fox has topped 60 points in four straight seasons. His defensive value — his ability to control possession, to exit his own zone cleanly, to make the right pass under pressure — gets overlooked because he doesn’t shoot the puck enough to dominate the highlight reel. The analytics community has long regarded Fox as an elite two-way defender. The awards have been slower to follow. MacKenzie Weegar, now with the Utah Mammoth, rounds out the conversation as the best two-way value in the game — less gaudy on the scoresheet, invaluable to any lineup.

The Real Answer

Makar is still the best defenseman in the NHL. But the gap that felt insurmountable a year ago has narrowed. Werenski is forcing a conversation that couldn’t have happened two seasons ago, and Bouchard’s scoring pace demands respect even if the full résumé isn’t there yet.

What makes Makar the answer isn’t just the points — it’s that when you watch him play, you see a defenseman who bends the game in ways that don’t always show up in a box score. The way he carries the puck through the neutral zone and accelerates away from pressure, the way he reads the play on the penalty kill, the way he manages his ice time without ever looking gassed. Last year he scored 30 goals and had 92 points in 80 games — the ninth defenseman in NHL history to hit 30 in a season and the first since Mike Green in 2008-09.

That’s still the standard. Werenski is chasing it.

Who’s your pick for the Norris — Makar, Werenski, or Bouchard? Drop your take in the comments or let me know on X/Twitter.