This is easily my favourite trophy of the year and I think I say that every... single... year. Yes, the Calder Trophy nominations are out for the 2010 season and it was a very good crop of young players, which surprisingly, I really didn't get a chance to get in the Draft with a rookie, which I usually try to do. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good crop this year and the nominees are definitely worthy of the nod, so let's see who picked their socks up in their first season in the NHL, shall we?
Well, since we're listing players by pool points this year, like every year, we have to start with Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings, who picked himself up the starting role for the veteran club, which is a pretty nice way to join the league. Howard ended up winning 37 games, 3 by shutout and added 2 assists for 82 points in the pool this year... ranking him 24th in pool scoring. I would have to believe that playing goal for the Red Wings is quite the privilege and getting a team like that to earn your trust is quite an achievement. Howard really took off in the back half of the season, when the Red Wings had to come back from outside of the playoff picture and finish 5th in the conference. Very well done.
The 2nd overall pick in the 2009 Entry Draft was thought to be NHL-ready and Matt Duchene did well to prove everyone right. Not only did Duchene prove that he was NHL-ready, he helped lead a rebuilding team to a very good season, even leading the Northwest Division for a long period of time, and into the playoffs in 8th spot in the West. Duchene finished the season with 24 goals and 31 assists in 81 games for the Avalanche, ranking him 94th in pool scoring, which is only looking upwards from here. Duchene is very worthy of this nomination and will likely get a good share of the votes after the fact.
Finally, it was a huge season for the Buffalo Sabres huge defenseman, Tyler Myers. Myers stepped onto the team from playing Juniors in Kelowna and made an immediate impact with the team. Myers led all rookies in total ice-time, playing in over 1,900 minutes all season and in all situations for the Sabres, averaging over 23 minutes per game in all 82 games. Myers also finished with 11 goals and 37 assists in those same 82 games, ranking him 141st in pool scoring, 11th among all defensemen. All this being said, he became the number one defenseman for a division-winning club, which has earned him plenty of supporters in this race.Well, I've been saying this for ages and my pick is Tyler Myers for this award. All of his merits are quite remarkable and he's one of those rookies that has such potential going forward, that it has a lot of hockey fans in awe. Myers wins hands down.
1 comment:
Duchene went third overall behind Tavares and Hedman
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