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.
Sideline Sports 