NHL – Early Calder Trophy Contenders

The NHL annually hands out the Calder Memorial Trophy to the league’s best rookie. Past winners include current stars such as Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane, Martin Brodeur, Teemu Selanne, and Daniel Alfredsson. Clearly, winning this trophy immediately puts you in good company. While the season is only a quarter of the way through, some rookies are already making waves.

 Justin Schultz – Edmonton Oilers

Schultz signed with Edmonton over the off-season and many Oiler fans had high expectations of him coming into the year. Schultz played for Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons, during the lockout and as of 2/18, is still the league’s second highest scorer behind current Oilers teammate Jordan Eberle.

The 23 year-old British Columbia native currently leads all Oilers in TOI/game with 22:55. That is over a minute and a half more than fellow defenceman Jeff Petry. Despite being tied for 11th in team +/- with a -2, Schultz’s defensive play has been nothing short of superb. He has been on the ice for the least goals against out of all Edmonton blue-liners who’ve dressed for at least 10 games.

Schultz has also been a catalyst on the power play. 6 of his 7 points have come with the man advantage and, overall, has factored into 55% of the team’s 11 power play goals. Schultz is one of, if not THE, biggest reason Edmonton sits with the league’s 3rd best power play percentage with an astounding 29.7%.

Edmonton currently sits a single point out of a playoff spot and Schultz will be a huge reason if this young Oilers team is able to make the playoffs for the first time since the 05-06 season.  

Vladimir Tarasenko – St. Louis Blues

Currently pegged as HockeysFuture.com’s second best prospect in the world, Tarasenko signed with St. Louis who drafted him 16th overall in 2010 during the off-season. Tarasenko was just trying to find a spot on the Blues’ roster coming into the year, but has quickly found his way into the team’s top 6.

The 21 year-old Russian wasted no time getting to work in the NHL, scoring on his first two career shots in his first game versus the Detroit Red Wings. Proving his first game wasn’t a fluke, Tarasenko would go on to add a goal and two assists in his next game. His 9 points (5-4-9) in the 7 games St. Louis played in January earned him top honors as the league’s rookie of the month. Vladimir is currently tied for 3rd in points among Blues forwards with David Perron.

Despite a four game pointless streak that saw him be a -7 during the stretch, Tarasenko is back on pace with points in 2 of his last 3 games. Expect him to possibly be the 3rd Russian in the past 8 seasons to win the Calder trophy at the end of the season.

 

Cory Conacher – Tampa Bay Lightning

You usually don’t expect someone who goes undrafted to ever play a game in the NHL, never mind being in contention to win a trophy in his first season. For 5’9″ Cory Conacher, this is not the case.

The 23 year-old Ontario native has been lighting it up in Tampa Bay this season. He is currently first among all rookies in points and that is with a 6 game pointless streak that he has just now broken with an assist in the Lightning’s 6-5 win over Florida. Conacher has 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points in 14 games and if you look at his numbers pre-February 2nd, (the start of his drought) 12 points in 7 games for an undrafted rookie seems otherworldly.

Playing with NHL greats like Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, and Vincent Lecavalier make it seem highly likely that Conacher will be able to keep up the scoring for the remainder of the season. All teams in the Eastern Conference need to keep an extra eye out for him as he adds even more scoring depth to an already offensively stacked Tampa Bay team.

-Rocco Cimino

NHL – Early Season Vezina Trophy Favorites

We’re just a quarter of the way into this year’s lockout shortened NHL season and already some goalies are standing out. Now, it is early to pass judgement on goalies especially due to how streaky they can be, but you have to keep an eye out for these goalies in the remaining 75% of the NHL season.

Craig Anderson – Ottawa Senators

Anderson got off to a blazing hot start to the season for the Senators which saw them go 3-0-1 in his first four starts. In those games, Anderson allowed just 3 goals on 119 shots giving him a .974 save percentage.

However, after the loss of their leading scorer from the previous season, Jason Spezza, the team has gone just 4-5-1. Despite the team’s woes, in his games since the loss of the team’s alternate captain, Anderson still has a .932 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average in his 9 starts.

If the Senators are to make the playoffs this year, especially with the loss of last year’s James Norris Trophy winner, Erik Karlsson, expect Anderson to be a huge reason for it.

Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are off to one of the best starts the NHL has ever seen going 12-0-3 in their first 15 games. Corey Crawford has been between the pipes for 10 of them, despite missing the last 2 due to an upper-body injury.

Crawford boasts a 1.65 goals against average and a .935 save percentage so far. While those numbers might jump off the page at you, the most impressive stat about Crawford this season is the one shutout he recorded. Now the shutout itself may not be impressive, – an easy 17 save game versus the NHL’s worst offensive team in the Nashville Predators – but the shutout was the first by a Blackhawks goaltender since March 23, 2011. Almost 2 whole years.

It’s no question the Chicago Blackhawks will be competing for hockey’s holy grail with 15 other teams come May, but whether or not the team wins the President’s Trophy with the league’s best record will ultimately fall on Crawford’s shoulders.

Viktor Fasth – Anaheim Ducks

Viktor Fasth and the Anaheim Ducks are without a doubt the NHL’s biggest surprise thus far. The 30 year old Swedish “rookie” started off the season as the back-up to former All-Star Jonas Hiller. It didn’t take long for Fasth to shake the title of “back-up” and steal the starting job from Hiller.

Fasth has started the season 8-0-0 boasting incredible numbers for any goalie, let alone one playing in his first season. Fasth’s 1.76 goals against average and .933 save percentage are good for 5th and 6th among starters, respectively. He also has more wins than any other goalie.

Anaheim is off to their best start since going 11-2-1 in 2006-2007, the year they won the Stanley Cup, thanks to Fasth. Expect Fasth, who was the Swedish Elite League’s top goaltender last season, to be in serious Vezina consideration at the end of the year.

– Rocco Cimino