No 2026-27 Norris Trophy odds were posted in ESPN’s NHL futures feed on 24 September 2026, so this page names no Norris price yet. Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets is the holder, after winning the award for 2025-26 with 22 goals and 81 points in 75 games.
He did it on a team that missed the playoffs. Columbus finished 40-30-12, 11th in the Eastern Conference, and Werenski played 26 minutes 36 seconds a night, the most of the four All-Star defensemen below.
What is the Norris Trophy
The James Norris Memorial Trophy goes to the NHL’s best defenseman. It is a regular-season award, so the 2027 playoffs will have no bearing on it.
Points are not the whole case. Evan Bouchard of Edmonton had 95 points in 2025-26, 14 more than Werenski, and made the Second All-Star Team rather than the first.
The top defensemen of 2025-26
These four were the defensemen on the 2025-26 First and Second All-Star Teams.
| Player | Team | All-Star Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | Time on ice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Werenski | Columbus Blue Jackets | First | 75 | 22 | 59 | 81 | +7 | 26:36 |
| Cale Makar | Colorado Avalanche | First | 75 | 20 | 59 | 79 | +32 | 24:50 |
| Rasmus Dahlin | Buffalo Sabres | Second | 77 | 19 | 55 | 74 | +18 | 24:11 |
| Evan Bouchard | Edmonton Oilers | Second | 82 | 21 | 74 | 95 | +25 | 24:40 |
Makar had the best plus-minus of the four, +32, on the Colorado team that led the NHL with 121 points. Dahlin’s Buffalo won the Atlantic Division at 50-23-9.
Werenski was the one whose team did not reach the playoffs, and he still won. He led the four in minutes and in shots, with 260.
What the Hart Trophy board says about defensemen
The only 2026-27 NHL award market on ESPN is the Hart Trophy, the MVP award, priced at DraftKings. It is not a Norris price. It does show how the book ranks the league’s defensemen as all-around players, and ten of its 82 names are defensemen.
| Defenseman | Team | Hart price | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cale Makar | Colorado Avalanche | +2500 | 3.8% |
| Zach Werenski | Columbus Blue Jackets | +6000 | 1.6% |
| Quinn Hughes | Minnesota Wild | +6000 | 1.6% |
| Rasmus Dahlin | Buffalo Sabres | +10000 | 1.0% |
| Matthew Schaefer | New York Islanders | +10000 | 1.0% |
| Evan Bouchard | Edmonton Oilers | +15000 | 0.7% |
| Lane Hutson | Montreal Canadiens | +15000 | 0.7% |
Victor Hedman, Roman Josi and Adam Fox, three past Norris winners, are each +30000. Schaefer won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year for 2025-26.
Recent Norris Trophy winners
| Season | Winner | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Zach Werenski | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| 2024-25 | Cale Makar | Colorado Avalanche |
| 2023-24 | Quinn Hughes | Vancouver Canucks |
| 2022-23 | Erik Karlsson | San Jose Sharks |
| 2021-22 | Cale Makar | Colorado Avalanche |
| 2020-21 | Adam Fox | New York Rangers |
| 2019-20 | Roman Josi | Nashville Predators |
| 2018-19 | Mark Giordano | Calgary Flames |
| 2017-18 | Victor Hedman | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 2016-17 | Brent Burns | San Jose Sharks |
| 2015-16 | Drew Doughty | Los Angeles Kings |
Makar is the only player with two wins in these eleven seasons. Nobody has won it in consecutive years in that span, and Werenski is the first Columbus player on the list.
How to read Norris odds once they post
A price converts to a break-even chance. For plus money, divide 100 by the price plus 100: a player at +250 needs to win 28.6% of the time. For minus money, divide the price by the price plus 100, so a favorite at -120 needs 54.5%.
A Norris bet is worth making only when you rate a player’s chance higher than the price does. The season opens on Tuesday, 29 September, and runs 84 games a team to Saturday, 10 April 2027.
More NHL awards and picks
The MVP race is on the Hart Trophy odds page and the rookies on the Calder Trophy odds page. Team futures are on the Stanley Cup odds page, and team pages include the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres.
Game-by-game calls are on the NHL predictions hub and nightly lines on the NHL scores and odds page. For paid NHL picks through the season, the membership trial is here.