Doug Harvey of the Montreal Canadiens was the Norris Trophy winner in those two years, his second and fourth time winning the award as the NHL’s top defenseman. Harvey would win the Norris seven times over his NHL career.
Bill Gadsby never won the Norris but was runner-up three times. In 1958-59, he finished second to Tom Johnson of the Montreal Canadiens. The gap in voting got slimmer each time and by 1958-59, it was quite a tight battle with Johnson. That year, Harvey finished fourth behind third place Marcel Pronovost.
Prior to his first of seven wins starting in 1954-55, Harvey was runner-up in 1953-54. That year, it was Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings winning by a wide margin. That was the first year the Norris Trophy was handed out.
At the time, Doug’s seven wins was tops in the NHL. Since, Bobby Orr broke that mark with eight. Niklas Lidstrom also won the award seven ties with Ray Bourque next up with five. Harvey was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973, a First Team All-Star ten times, a Second Team All-Star once and a Stanley Cup champion six times.
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