Brian Dumoulin never has won a Norris Trophy.
Probably never will.
Those tend to go to defensemen who pile up lots of points, and Dumoulin's defense-oriented game is more conducive to producing welts and contusions than goals and assists.
Fact is, in six seasons as a regular on the Penguins' blue line, he's breached the 18-point level once.
Contrast that with, say, the 47 that Adam Fox, the most recent Norris winner, generated in just 55 games last season.
Fox, just two years removed from his college days at Harvard, has established himself as one of the league's premier defensemen, and is a virtual lock to be selected to Team USA for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
That's no small accomplishment, given the many qualified candidates to man the U.S. defense in that tournament.
John Carlson is on the list. Seth Jones, too. Jaccob Slavin and Charlie McAvoy. Torey Krug and Quinn Hughes. Zach Werenski and Jeff Petry. Brandon Carlo and Jacob Trouba. To say nothing of Ryan Suter and Ryan McDonagh, among others.
It's a thoroughly impressive group, one that could yield the best defense corps in the Games.
The question for those charged with constructing the roster is, would the unit be even better if it includes a defense-first veteran such as Dumoulin?
To date, Dumoulin's name has not turned up in many projections about the makeup of Team USA, which is no surprise.
There's nothing remotely spectacular about his style, which doesn't generate a lot of highlights or headlines. Just victories.
And while Dumoulin's offensive numbers won't overwhelm anyone, he does have some stats that just might.
For example, he was on the ice for a team-leading 67.1 percent of the time when the Penguins were trying to kill penalties during the 41 games in which he played during 2020-21. That's well ahead of the runner-up, Cody Ceci (56 percent), and nearly twice that of Dumoulin's partner on the No. 1 pairing, Kris Letang (34.5).
Being a club's go-to guy when it's shorthanded -- Dumoulin led the Penguins with an average of two minutes, 45 seconds of penalty-killing work last season -- obviously speaks to his coaches' confidence in his defensive abilities.
It certainly won't hurt Dumoulin that some of the people who will choose personnel for the U.S. squad have first-hand knowledge of his abilities, of how responsible and reliable he can be in high-stakes settings.
Mike Sullivan, who will coach Team USA, might be more aware of them than anyone else in the sport and Bill Guerin, who will be an assistant GM, surely appreciates the contribution Dumoulin made to the pair of Stanley Cups the Penguins won during Guerin's time in their front office.
Dumoulin's only previous international experience was as a member of Team USA at the 2011 world junior championships, where he earned a bronze medal.
Like that tournament, the 2022 Olympics will be contested on NHL-sized ice, which is smaller than the sheet used at most international events. Adjusting to the bigger ice wouldn't necessarily have been more of an issue for Dumoulin than for any other NHL defenseman, but being on a familiar-sized rink could only work to his advantage.
He has fared well there against the best teams in the NHL. And there's ample reason to believe that, if given the opportunity, he would do just as well against the finest national squads in the world.
Dumoulin certainly isn't guaranteed to make it onto Team USA's roster, nor should he be. There are way more worthy candidates for those positions than there are spots available, which means some very accomplished defensemen will watch the Games on TV.
It's entirely possible -- maybe even likely -- that Dumoulin will be one of those. But he's at least earned the right to have a place in the conversation.