It was just the fourth week of the season when the campaigning began.
“I said this morning, Johnny for Norris,” Alex Ovechkin said in October. “That’s a hashtag right now. Let’s keep it going.”
He was referring to John Carlson and the James Norris Memorial Trophy, more commonly just the Norris Trophy, awarded each season to the best defenseman in the NHL by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The 2019-20 season was still in its infancy, but Ovechkin and other Washington Capitals teammates were eager to praise Carlson for his blistering start to the year.