During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Aerys NHL writers have been revealing their picks for the NHL award categories. You can find the previous prognostics over on the side bar.
Ahh the Calder Memorial Trophy, the award given out to the best rookie. Everyone loves talking about the rookies. The Calder Memorial Trophy is one of the oldest awards given out having first been handed out back in 1932. At that time it was just called “Rookie of the Year” but was later renamed after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL, during the 1936-37 season. After his death in 1943, it became the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is the name we still use today.
There are some rules when it comes to be nominated for the Calder besides being a rookie. Players cannot have played more than 25 games in any previous season nor have played in more than six games in each of two separate seasons in any professional league. Players also can’t be older than 26 years old as of September 15th of their rookie season. (We all know what that date signifies, right?)
Last season, we here at Aerys hit it perfectly in naming Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog as the winner. Pretty impressive since I think everyone else thought it was going to Nugent-Hopkins. But no pressure on me to get it right or anything.
Anyway, here are our nominees and projected winner for 2013:
Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr
Jonas Brodin, 19, Minnesota Wild
As the youngest active defenseman in the NHL, Brodin played 45 games this season totaling 11 points (2 goals, 9 assists). With those numbers, you might ask why I have him as a nominee for the Calder. Well because he played with Ryan Suter on the first pair averaging 23:12 of ice time per game which led all rookies by almost two minutes. AT NINETEEN! And for those wondering, he ended the season with a plus-3. That’s impressive if you ask me. He also blocked 60 shots which placed him fourth amongst rookies. (I know some people don’t take a lot of stock in that stat but as a Rangers fan, I’m trained to consider it important.)
Photo: Margaret/flickr
Brendan Gallagher, 20, Montreal Canadiens
At 5’9″ and 178-pounds, Gallagher is not exact your typical NHL player. Yet he plays the role of a pest and he plays it well. He doesn’t lead in any category amongst rookies but he’s up there in every one of them.
In 44 games, he had 15 goals (2nd), 13 assists for 28 points (3rd) and a plus-10 (5th). He also threw 44 hits and blocked 33 shots while placing 117 shots (2nd) of his own on net. Habs fans love him and they should as he does a little bit of everything. He played mostly on the second or third line but expect that to go up in the future.
Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr
Brandon Saad, 20, Chicago Blackhawks
I’m going out on a limb on this one as while Saad has had a great season for the Hawks, there are probably others people would place here before him. Saad had 27 points (10 goals, two of which were game winners, and 17 assists) in 46 games placing him fourth in scoring amongst rookies. The stat that caught my eye? While averaging 16:27 per game, he ended the season a plus-17. Those are good numbers for a veteran but for a rookie, that’s fantastic. (Yes, I am sure he was kept away from the most dangerous players in the Western Conference but those minutes say he was on the second line most nights.) And for those wondering where that ranks among his teammates, that would be fourth behind only Jonathan Toews (+28), Marian Hossa (+20) and Michal Roszival (+18).
Honorable Mentions (i.e. a bunch of guys who easily could be nominated or win this award): Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers; Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz, Edmonton Oilers; Cory Conacher, Ottawa Senators
And our winner is:
Brendan Gallagher.
Honestly, I want to pick Brodin but I can’t go against the numbers and Gallagher has them. He seems to be the odds on favorite to win the award due to his size and style of play (and the fact that the Canadiens have done well this season). But would I be surprised to see someone else take it? Let’s put it this way…I wouldn’t be surprised to see three entirely different players nominated for the award that’s how wide-open this one is this year.
