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Calgary4LIfe · 04-09-2025, 11:06 AM

I was reading the last page of the Flames-Sharks PGT, and people were discussing Wolf vs Hutson for the Calder.

One thing that is interesting to look back on was the 2005-06 season. I see a lot of parallels from then. Here is a link to the Calder Voting that season:
https://www.hockey-reference.com/awa...l#calder_stats

Phaneuf was 3rd place just behind Ovechkin and Crosby. Many pundits felt that in almost any other year, Phaneuf would have won it. 20 goals(!!), 29 assists, 49 points. Lane Hutson right now is at 8 goals, 58 assists 64 points. That's a crazy amount of production for a defencemen, ignoring that he is a rookie. Phaneuf's 20 goals was amazing (and so was his stat line after 3 seasons - the most productive defencemen in goals since Bobby Orr, IIRC), but I would say Hutson's numbers are more impressive.

Anyway, #4 on the list of the Calder voting that year was Henrik Lundqvist. The gap between him and Phaneuf was much tighter than Phaneuf vs Crosby, or Crosby vs Ovechkin. Lundqvist also finished 3rd in Vezina voting that year (behind the Kiprusoff (w) and Brodeur.

Although Celebrini is awesome, and was called "The Next Crosby" - but that is more of a reflection in his overall mature game, rather than him being at that level of a prospect. Celebrini has missed some time, but would probably be in around Hutson's production level. So Hutson is out-producing both Celebrini and Michkov (whom I consider to be a distant 4th). However, Celebrini is nowhere near 'historic' for his season. Ovechkin and Crosby were both over 100pts in their rookie years. It is a fantastic season for Celebrini - on par with last year's winner Bedard - but hardly unprecedented. I think Celebrini is this year's Phaneuf - in almost any other year, he probably wins it, but not this year.

It was essentially a 2-horse race last year with Bedard and Faber. Faber's 47 points doesn't accurately summarize why he was less than 400 points away from Bedard (Hughes was a distant 3rd having almost 800 points less than Faber), but it was still nowhere near 'historic', even accounting for his veteran-like utilization.

2019-20 would have been such an interesting race to watch between Makar and Hughes. Let's pretend the league didn't shut-down, and that both Makar and Hughes continued to score at their respective PPGs paces (and factoring-in games played up until that point):
Makar would have finished with 59pts that season, and Hughes would have finished with: 63pts. Maybe their scoring would have increased as the season wrapped-up - hypotheticals are such a slippery slope to base an argument around. However, it is really impressive that Hutson is at 64.

What Hutson is doing is historic. When comparing all-time rookie defencemen scoring, he just passed Chelios on the list to secure the #6 spot all time. Montreal has 4 games left, and he can catch Bourque in 5th place (1 point behind him) and Housley in 4th place (2 points back). Heck, Gary Suter is #3 on the all time list with 68 points, and it isn't inconceivable that Hutson catches him. So I would say that Hutson working his way into the top 5 would be a historic Calder winning worthy season.
https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/nhl...enceman-season

With all of the above, I think Hutson wins it this year. What he has done so far this season is touching on the true sense of the word 'historic'. However, 2 things:
1) Wolf can perhaps tilt the voting in his favour with a few more performances like he did against San Jose (sick saves on Celebrini!), especially if it looks like he 'stole' some wins to close out the year and propels Calgary into the playoffs.
2) Karma. Finally karma catches up with that voter who left off Iginla completely on his ballot, which helped Theodore get the Hart over Iginla in 2001-02.

Hopefully Wolf gets it, as it means that the Flames made it to the playoffs.

04-09-2025, 11:06 AM	#161
Calgary4LIfe Franchise Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Exp:	I was reading the last page of the Flames-Sharks PGT, and people were discussing Wolf vs Hutson for the Calder. One thing that is interesting to look back on was the 2005-06 season. I see a lot of parallels from then. Here is a link to the Calder Voting that season: https://www.hockey-reference.com/awa...l#calder_stats Phaneuf was 3rd place just behind Ovechkin and Crosby. Many pundits felt that in almost any other year, Phaneuf would have won it. 20 goals(!!), 29 assists, 49 points. Lane Hutson right now is at 8 goals, 58 assists 64 points. That's a crazy amount of production for a defencemen, ignoring that he is a rookie. Phaneuf's 20 goals was amazing (and so was his stat line after 3 seasons - the most productive defencemen in goals since Bobby Orr, IIRC), but I would say Hutson's numbers are more impressive. Anyway, #4 on the list of the Calder voting that year was Henrik Lundqvist. The gap between him and Phaneuf was much tighter than Phaneuf vs Crosby, or Crosby vs Ovechkin. Lundqvist also finished 3rd in Vezina voting that year (behind the Kiprusoff (w) and Brodeur. Although Celebrini is awesome, and was called "The Next Crosby" - but that is more of a reflection in his overall mature game, rather than him being at that level of a prospect. Celebrini has missed some time, but would probably be in around Hutson's production level. So Hutson is out-producing both Celebrini and Michkov (whom I consider to be a distant 4th). However, Celebrini is nowhere near 'historic' for his season. Ovechkin and Crosby were both over 100pts in their rookie years. It is a fantastic season for Celebrini - on par with last year's winner Bedard - but hardly unprecedented. I think Celebrini is this year's Phaneuf - in almost any other year, he probably wins it, but not this year. It was essentially a 2-horse race last year with Bedard and Faber. Faber's 47 points doesn't accurately summarize why he was less than 400 points away from Bedard (Hughes was a distant 3rd having almost 800 points less than Faber), but it was still nowhere near 'historic', even accounting for his veteran-like utilization. 2019-20 would have been such an interesting race to watch between Makar and Hughes. Let's pretend the league didn't shut-down, and that both Makar and Hughes continued to score at their respective PPGs paces (and factoring-in games played up until that point): Makar would have finished with 59pts that season, and Hughes would have finished with: 63pts. Maybe their scoring would have increased as the season wrapped-up - hypotheticals are such a slippery slope to base an argument around. However, it is really impressive that Hutson is at 64. What Hutson is doing is historic. When comparing all-time rookie defencemen scoring, he just passed Chelios on the list to secure the #6 spot all time. Montreal has 4 games left, and he can catch Bourque in 5th place (1 point behind him) and Housley in 4th place (2 points back). Heck, Gary Suter is #3 on the all time list with 68 points, and it isn't inconceivable that Hutson catches him. So I would say that Hutson working his way into the top 5 would be a historic Calder winning worthy season. https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/nhl...enceman-season With all of the above, I think Hutson wins it this year. What he has done so far this season is touching on the true sense of the word 'historic'. However, 2 things: 1) Wolf can perhaps tilt the voting in his favour with a few more performances like he did against San Jose (sick saves on Celebrini!), especially if it looks like he 'stole' some wins to close out the year and propels Calgary into the playoffs. 2) Karma. Finally karma catches up with that voter who left off Iginla completely on his ballot, which helped Theodore get the Hart over Iginla in 2001-02. Hopefully Wolf gets it, as it means that the Flames made it to the playoffs.