Earlier today, the league announced the trio of Norris candidates. Once more, Nick Lidstrom headed the list. The five-time Norris winner will once again be the favorite. He’ll go up against Boston’s Zdeno Chara and first-time selection Dion Phaneuf of Calgary.

The 37 year-old Lidstrom who has played his entire 15-year career with the Red Wings is looking to match Doug Harvey with a sixth Norris.

“It meant a lot tying Ray Bourque which is a player I looked up to and admired when he was playing before I even came into the league,” the Detroit defenseman expressed to reporters  of tying Bourque last year during a conference call.

“I had a chance to just watch him on TV, so that was a great honor to get No. 5, and getting No. 6 would be even better, especially with the players that have won it; Bobby Orr having eight. And so it would mean a lot to me being able to win six and passing a player like Ray Bourque.”  

In 76 contests this season, the Swede topped all defenders with 60 assists and 70 points while posting a plus-40 rating ranking second behind teammate Pavel Datsyuk. His 26:43 average ice-time (TOI) was fourth most placing after Chara, whose 26:50 TOI ranked third.

Speaking of Chara, it was a brighter day for the 31 year-old Boston captain than last night’s Game Seven in which he was awful. Well, at least the lanky Slovak bounced back with a very good season leading the surprising Bruins back to the postseason despite no Patrice Bergeron (concussion).

In 77 games, he netted 51 points (17-34-51) while racking up 114 penalty minutes. Chara’s 17 goals tied with Phaneuf for second most by defensemen placing behind Washington’s Mike Green, who finished with 18. Chara and blueline teammate Dennis Wideman also were tied for fourth among D with nine power play goals.

It’s Chara’s second Norris nomination. Four years ago, he finished as the runner-up to then New Jersey Devil Scott Niedermayer.

Meanwhile, the 23 year-old Phaneuf had another great season establishing career bests in assists (43), points (60) and plus-minus (+12) while playing in all 82 games. His 60 points were fifth best by a blueliner. The 10 PPG he connected for tied with Detroit’s Brian Rafalski and Montreal’s Andrei Markov for the most by a defenseman.

Always willing to mix it up, Phaneuf also had 182 penalty minutes topping all players at his position. This is as physical a defenseman as there is with maybe only Montreal’s Mike Komisarek getting the nod over him.

Reaction: No surprise in terms of who got picked. I still feel Markov deserved a nomination. Maybe he didn’t have the gaudy plus-minus of a Lidstrom or the pizzazz of the other couple of candidates but the Montreal defenseman was largely responsible for his team’s stunning improvement and rise to the top of the East. Playing all 82, his 58 points (16-42-58) placed sixth best on the blueline. As noted earlier, his 10 PPG tied with Phaneuf and Rafalski for most by a defenseman. Markov also averaged 24:58 which was the most on his team.

For all the discussion of teammate Komisarek who was a beast easily leading the league in blocked shots, the Long Island product missed seven games and logged 21:09. It was Markov who anchored the D. Though he got help from veteran Roman Hamrlik (23:08 TOI).

It’s hard to argue against Phaneuf and Chara did bounceback but I would’ve put Markov in there. Possible other contenders who had cases were Pittsburgh’s Sergei Gonchar, Green and Minnesota’s Brent Burns. Lidstrom’s anchor Rafalski also had a great season matching last year’s best in points (55) and the 13 goals and 10 power play were by far his best probably making Devil fans sick.

Tomorrow, the Calder candidates get announced. In what was a strong class, figure Patrick Kane, Nicklas Backstrom and Carey Price to get the nod over Jonathan Toews and Peter Mueller.

There are two Game Seven’s taking place. The Flyers and Caps will face off in 10 minutes with Calgary and San Jose following at 10. Even WFAN is having radio coverage of the second game starting at 9:45 PM. So for all my Buffalo buddy’s gripes, they’re putting it on.