Norris Trophy Winners (NHL Best Defenseman)

Bobby Orr has won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman eight times, more than any player in the award’s history, and he did it in eight straight seasons from 1968 to 1975. The most recent winner is Cale Makar, who took the 2024 trophy for the Colorado Avalanche.

The Norris, first awarded in 1954, goes to the defenseman judged to show the greatest all-around ability each regular season. Orr redefined the position while he owned the award, and no one since has strung together a run close to his. Below are the recent winners and every multiple winner in the trophy’s history. Figures are as of the 2025 season.

Recent Norris Trophy winners

Here are the Norris winners from 2015 through 2024, with their team.

Year	Winner	Team
2024	Cale Makar	Colorado Avalanche
2023	Erik Karlsson	San Jose Sharks
2022	Cale Makar	Colorado Avalanche
2021	Adam Fox	New York Rangers
2020	Roman Josi	Nashville Predators
2019	Mark Giordano	Calgary Flames
2018	Victor Hedman	Tampa Bay Lightning
2017	Brent Burns	San Jose Sharks
2016	Drew Doughty	Los Angeles Kings
2015	Erik Karlsson	Ottawa Senators

The recent list has spread the award widely, with eight different names across ten years. Only Makar and Karlsson repeat inside the window, a contrast with the era when Orr or Lidström simply held the trophy for years at a time.

Every multiple Norris Trophy winner

Here are the players who have won the Norris more than twice.

Wins	Player	Years
8	Bobby Orr	1968-1975
7	Doug Harvey	1955-1958, 1960, 1961, 1962
7	Nicklas Lidström	2001-2003, 2006-2008, 2011
5	Ray Bourque	1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994
3	Pierre Pilote	1963, 1964, 1965
3	Paul Coffey	1985, 1986, 1995
3	Chris Chelios	1989, 1993, 1996
3	Erik Karlsson	2012, 2015, 2023

Orr, Harvey and Lidström sit clear at the top. Below them, Bourque’s five anchors a group of three-time winners, and Karlsson is the only active name in it.

Orr’s eight-in-a-row, and why it may never be matched

Orr won the Norris in each of his first eight healthy seasons, from 1968 through 1975, before knee injuries cut his career short. No defenseman before or since has held the award for that long, and the modern voting pattern makes a repeat unlikely. Where Orr faced a smaller pool of true two-way defensemen, today’s ballots draw from a deeper field of mobile, puck-moving blueliners, so votes split more often.

Orr also changed what the position could be. He is the only defenseman to lead the NHL in scoring outright, winning the Art Ross in 1970 and 1975, and his rushing style is the template Makar and Karlsson play from. For the wider context, see our lists of the most points in NHL history and the greatest NHL players of all time.

Lidström and Harvey: the standard for longevity

If Orr is the peak, Nicklas Lidström is the model of sustained excellence. His seven Norris Trophies came across an 11-year span with the Detroit Red Wings, from 2001 to 2011, and he won six of them after turning 30. Doug Harvey’s seven, mostly with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s, came in a six-year cluster that anchored a dynasty.

The two share a trait Orr’s injury-shortened run could not show: they stayed at the top of the position into their mid-30s. That durability is why their totals sit second only to Orr despite neither having his single-season peak.

How the Norris differs from hockey’s other honors

The Norris rewards all-around defensive play, but voters have long leaned toward defensemen who also produce offense, which is why high-scoring blueliners dominate the list. It is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, the same body that votes the Hart Trophy for MVP.

Winning both in one year is the mark of a truly dominant defenseman, and Orr’s three Hart-and-Norris doubles in 1970, 1971 and 1972 remain the benchmark. For the playoff side of the ledger, see our list of Conn Smythe Trophy winners. Eight Norris Trophies is the number to chase, and no active player is even a third of the way there.