The season is over, and the Stanley Cup has been awarded. But
the NHL still has some hardware to hand out. In just a few days the NHL will hand out the
Calder, Hart, Norris, Vezina and Jack Adams Trophy at the NHL Awards Show in Las
Vegas, Nevada.
The league’s best players will invade Sin City, and will wait
for the crowning of the NHL’s best rookie, head coach, defenseman, goalie and
most valuable player.
Over the next few days we’ll give you an inside look at who
should win and why. Today, the Calder Trophy.
Calder Trophy, NHL’s Best Rookie
Candidates:
Adam Henrique, New Jersey Devils
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers
Who will win:
The Colorado Avalanche have had very little to cheer for in
recent history. It seems like that has changed since they picked Landeskog second overall in last year's draft. In Landeskog’s rookie campaign, the Avalanche finished the
season with 41 wins and 88 points compared to the 30 wins and 68 points the
season before.
Landeskog played all 82 games last season, lit the lamp 22
times and tallied a total 52 points. The Avalanche scored 208 goals last
season, and Landeskog’s 52 points account for 25% of the Avalanche’s total
offensive production.
One of the biggest parts of Landeskog’s stat line is his
plus-20 rating. Compared to his competitor’s plus-8 and minus-2 ranking,
Landeskog is an All-Star.
In his rookie campaign, Landeskog played on the team’s top
line, was three points off the lead in points and lead the team in plus/minus. Landeskog has the Avalanche’s future looking
bright and is giving fans a reason to look forward to their games.
Plays like the one below could be why.
Landeskog’s opponents have just as good stats and have equal
amounts of talent, but Landeskog has done all this without a supporting cast, and if
you look at each team individually, the other two may have succeeded without
their rookies. The Avalanche on the other hand, would probably not have been as fortunate.
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