We have reached the All-Star break, which is looked at as an unofficial midway point of the season.

Perhaps more than any other major award, the Norris Trophy remains completely up for grabs. A handful of players have put together strong cases for the hardware but nobody is running away with it ~50 games into the year.

Let's take a look at where the market stands and how things have changed since prior to puck drop on the 2022-23 campaign.

Leading the group is Erik Karlsson, who is producing at the highest rate of his entire career at age 32. Karlsson is playing for a mediocre San Jose Sharks team that ranks 20th in scoring efficiency league-wide. He has managed to put up 16 goals and 66 points over 51 games; a 27-goal, 106-point pace. He leads all defensemen in Goals Above Replacement despite his defensive game being graded at a net-negative.

Hot on his tail is the pre-season favorite Cale Makar. He has been unseated through no fault of his own. Despite the Colorado Avalanche being crushed by injuries, Makar has averaged more than a point per game while driving play and logging more than 27 minutes of ice on a nightly basis. He has been a huge factor in keeping the Avalanche afloat.

Rounding out the big four are Adam Fox and Rasmus Dahlin. Fox is producing at a point-per-game clip and ranks second among NHL defensemen in average Game Score.

Meanwhile, Dahlin is producing at a 92-point clip and serving as Mr. Everything for a Buffalo Sabres side that finds itself in the thick of the wild card race.

Of the group, Karlsson might be most vulnerable of slipping. His defensive game has holes and he plays for a bad team that will only get worse when the likes of Timo Meier (likely) get shipped out. If his production falls off, he doesn't have a leg to stand on the way the others do.

With regards to longer shots, Dougie Hamilton is probably the guy carrying the most value. He is tied for third among blue-liners in goals, flirting with a point per game, and owns a +19 goal differential at five-on-five. This while playing big minutes against quality competition for a New Jersey Devils team that sits fourth in the league, a spot nobody predicted they'd hold this far into the season.

If he can raise his production just a hair in the second half, while Karlsson's perhaps falls off, his numbers figure to be every bit as good as the rest of his competition. The difference will be Hamilton is viewed as a super long shot in the market while you have to pay a premium to back the others.

After the +4000 range, things really fall off. Quinn Hughes plays for a tire fire in the Vancouver Canucks, Charlie McAvoy missed too much hockey, Victor Hedman is having a down season, and the others don't produce enough.

This looks like a five-horse race, with Hamilton being the most likely to jump in and make it six.

Buckle up; it's going to be a wild race to the finish.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin will replace his injured teammate Tage Thompson at the 2023 All-Star Game, the NHL announced Thursday.

Thompson left Wednesday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes early due to an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old was set to make his first appearance at an All-Star Game.

Dahlin represented the Sabres at last year's All-Star Game, the first of his career. Last week, he spoke about the lack of blue-liners at this year's event.

The 22-year-old has already set career-highs in goals (14), assists (41), and points (55) this season and ranks second league-wide in scoring among defensemen.

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Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson departed Wednesday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes with an upper-body injury, the team announced.

Thompson played the first two periods but didn't come back out for the third. He was seen walking gingerly to the dressing room at the end of the second.

The 25-year-old was considered day-to-day with an upper-body ailment earlier in the week, but he never missed any games.

Thompson, the Sabres' lone All-Star Game representative, has registered 34 goals and 34 assists in 50 games this season.

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Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone is out indefinitely after undergoing successful back surgery, the team announced Wednesday.

The 30-year-old is expected to make a full recovery. Stone hasn't played since suffering the injury on Jan. 12 against the Florida Panthers. He experienced a setback in his rehabilitation, which prompted the surgery Tuesday.

The procedure marks his second in less than a year. Stone underwent back surgery in May following an injury-plagued 2021-22 campaign in which he missed 45 games across three stretches on the sidelines.

Vegas has won only one of the eight games Stone has missed this season.

Stone ranks second on the Golden Knights with 17 goals and 38 points in 43 games while averaging 19:23 of ice time per contest this season.

The Winnipeg native has four campaigns remaining on his current deal with a $9.5-million cap hit.

The Golden Knights are third in the Pacific Division with a 29-18-4 record after missing the playoffs for the first time last season. Vegas enjoyed a hot start to the campaign but owns a dubious 2-6-2 mark in its previous 10 games.

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Brad Marchand believes the Boston Bruins' run as one of the most consistent teams in the NHL is due, in part, to the players taking contracts below market value.

"Guys have tried to take less to win because we know that it bleeds through the lineup," Marchand said Wednesday ahead of Boston's matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs, per Sportsnet.

"If you can have six guys that make lower salary (rather) than three, it's a lot harder to play against. And that's why we've been so good for so long."

The Bruins possess some of the most team-friendly contracts in the league. Marchand, who's been a first- or second-team All-Star in four of the past six seasons, is under contract for two campaigns beyond 2022-23 with a $6.125-million cap hit. Marchand signed his eight-year pact in September 2016 - right before he blossomed into one of the game's best wingers.

Additionally, captain Patrice Bergeron, who's vying for his sixth career Selke Trophy at age 37, re-signed with the Bruins on a one-year, $2.5-million agreement in the offseason. Second-line center David Krejci, who's collected 41 points in 45 games this season, makes just $1 million on the salary cap.

Leading scorer David Pastrnak also comes with a bargain $6.67-million cap hit, but he could cash in this offseason as a pending unrestricted free agent.

The Bruins have missed the playoffs just four times in the salary-cap era, making three trips to the Stanley Cup Final in that span, winning once in 2011. They sit atop the NHL standings this season with a 38-7-5 record.

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The NHLPA's next leader may come from outside the sports world.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh is the leading candidate to succeed Donald Fehr as the executive director of the NHLPA, reports ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

The union's executive board plans to meet later this week in Florida to address Walsh's potential appointment, adds Kaplan. If the board - which includes two players each from 26 teams and one each from the remaining six - moves forward with the search committee's recommendation, it'll be put to a full membership vote.

The NHLPA reportedly wants to have a new leader by the end of this regular season. Former Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis is also a finalist, according to Kaplan.

Walsh was the mayor of Boston from January 2014 until March 2021, when he stepped down to join President Joe Biden's cabinet following his confirmation. Walsh has a union background. The 55-year-old was the president of the Laborers' International Union of North America while serving in the Massachusetts state legislature before he was elected mayor.

Fehr is departing as the head of the NHLPA after 12 years.

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