Mark Giordano is the best NHL defenseman that you’re not watching

A strong argument can be made that Mark Giordano was the NHL’s best defenseman last year. This may be an unpopular notion amongst the greater hockey community, especially amongst those who don’t care for advanced stats, but there is plenty of evidence to support his case.

However, Giordano was not treated as a genuine Norris Trophy candidate by most members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, who gave him just one first-place vote. Duncan Keith, Zdeno Chara and Shea Weber were viewed as those most worthy, and Keith ultimately won despite a soft defensive workload.

Truth is, the previously undrafted Giordano never stood a chance. He wasn’t a star in a big market like Keith and Chara, and he wasn’t a big name who just helped his country to an Olympic gold medal like Weber.

Rather, he was a little-known commodity on a bad team.

The Flames are still fairly bad, but Giordano’s profile has risen considerably of late. This year, mainstream media outlets are discussing him as a potential Norris winner, and on Jan. 25, he’ll partake in his first NHL All-Star Game at Nationwide Arena.

Indeed, the 31-year-old has come a long way over the last few seasons -- both on the ice and in the eyes of the public.

Giordano has been heralded by analytics writers for some time now, but it took a roaring start in 2014-15 to gain widespread attention. This came after he racked up 18 points in his first 16 contests and was named the NHL’s first star of the week on Nov. 10.

And his production hasn’t slowed much since: through 43 games, Giordano has tallied 36 points (10 goals, 26 assists), just one point fewer than Kevin Shattenkirk’s defenseman-leading total.

Also impressive is the influence Giordano has on his teammates. While the Flames are mediocre possession-wise, that often changes when he hops over the boards. The impact he makes is staggering, to say the least, and it can be illustrated by comparing shot differential numbers with and without him on the ice.

Overall, the Flames have taken 47.2 percent of even strength shot attempts with Giordano and 42.4 percent without him. That’s a big difference, one that only becomes more impressive when we consider how Bob Hartley deploys his star D-man.

The Flames’ blue line is a complete train-wreck when the bottom two pairings are used -- regardless of how much they’re sheltered. But when Giordano and T.J. Brodie are out there, which happens almost 25 minutes per game, Calgary tends to perform at a competitive level.

Essentially, Giordano is handling the opponents’ best players, starting a high number of shifts in his own zone, driving play at an elite rate and creating lots of offense.

This is what separates him from the pack. No one else is doing so much under such harsh conditions.

Drew Doughty’s name has been tossed around as a Norris favorite, as has Keith’s, but other than their higher ice time and slightly more productive work on special teams, there’s little reason to believe they’ve been more valuable than Giordano.

Question is, would Doughty or Keith be in this conversation if they were put on the Flames’ top pairing? Doughty might, but it’s hard to see Keith doing well enough in that environment to garner hardware.

The Norris Trophy is supposed to be rewarded to the “defensive player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.” Right now, no one fits this description better than Giordano.