Quote:
Originally Posted by mdubz
Age should definitely be considered. Someone like Ekblad is accomplishing great feats despite having less years of hockey playing experience/maturity.
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To add to that, every year in the Calder race, it is usually a blend of dynamic young forwards who appear and take the league by storm and are the front runners.
2014 Nominees
Nathan Mackinnon - C
Tyler Johnson - C
Andrej Palat - LW
2013 Nominees
Jonathan Huberdeau - C
Brendan Gallagher - RW
Brandon Saad - LW
2012 Nominees
Gabriel Landeskog - LW
Ryan Nugent Hopkins - C
Adam Henrique - C
In fact the last D to get a nomination was Tyler Myers in 2010. Before him...Dion Phaneuf in 2006. So only 2 defenseman nomination in the last 10 years.
A player of Ekblad's quality in his position at the age of 18/19 is so incredibly rare. Especially playing on the 1st pairing. It just doesn't happen as often as a rookie forward coming in and contributing. That's why I personally have him as the front-runner. Again, I would be ecstatic if Johnny won. But what Ekblad is doing is very rare and might not happen again for a while.