[News] 2013 Calder Trophy Finalists (Gallagher, Huberdeau, Saad)

[MoneyGuy]

Borodin and Yak were the best rookies this season. They'll both be great pros. Brodin should have won this.

[wretched34]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/05/0...rd-nominations

Love the winefest.

[howard_the_duck]

I thought Gallagher had the best season of any rookie. Top line minutes were not handed to him - he fought for everything he got.

The guy has future captain material and seems to have that special motor that's required from smaller-statured players to succeed.

[Dorkmaster]

Honestly this rookie class was pretty even. Nobody ran away with points and everybody had a strong impact.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

Am I the only one that finds it funny when a player's stats are argued as 'less than' because they're 'unsustainable'???

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Yakupov had a kick-ass shooting % this season...maybe he's a really good shooter.

You should be the only one who finds it funny, but sadly this argument comes up often.

http://www.hockey-reference.com/lead...ct_career.html
http://www.hockey-reference.com/lead...ct_active.html
(min. 250 games)

There's your list of the highest career shooting percentages in NHL history and a second list of all the active players. Care to explain why Yakupov is such a really good shooter that he's in the top 5 all-time (with a bunch of 80's players who played when goals were very easy to come by), is the highest active player by a large margin, and scores on 33% more of his shots than the bunch of elite active players around 14-15%?

I made this identical post in regards to Jordan Eberle's 34-goal campaign last year that was fueled by a 19% shooting percentage. There was the typical blow back of "maybe he's just different and really good" and predictably his shooting% plummeted to a more reasonable 12% and he was on pace for only 27 goals over an 82 game season.

[OzSome]

My vote is for Brendan Gallagher of Montreal. He is one of more reasons the Habs turned their season around from last. Huberdeau might be good but their team sucked this season, while Saad played with some good young players Toews and Kane. Neil Yakupov was minus something and he wasn't really a factor for the crappy Oilers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Borodin and Yak were the best rookies this season. They'll both be great pros. Brodin should have won this.

Brodin was definately a standout.

While Yak(ugh) had a nice points total, I don't think he was a standout, and the 6 goals in two games at the end of the season weren't different makers.

You could argue that Gallagher had the biggest rookie impact for his team and was a complete difference maker.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Brodin was definately a standout.

While Yak(ugh) had a nice points total, I don't think he was a standout, and the 6 goals in two games at the end of the season weren't different makers.

You could argue that Gallagher had the biggest rookie impact for his team and was a complete difference maker.

Same could be said for Huberdeau

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Same could be said for Huberdeau

Not Huberdeau's fault for playing on the Panthers, but I weigh Gallagher's contributions on the division champion Habs a lot higher than what Huberdeau did in Florida.

Pretty rare a rookie player has that kind of impact on a good playoff team playing in a tough division.

[CaptainCrunch]

I will admit that I didn't see enough of Huberdeau to judge. But Gallagher definitely made a massive impact for the Habs.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

From my observation, Huberdeau played far more important minutes, and garnered substantially more attention from the opposition, than Yakupov did.

More important minutes isn't saying much when you play for Florida. The Panthers were on pace for 61 points and -100 goal differential. The 61 points pro-rated to 82 games is worse than any of the last place Oilers teams finishes and a -100 goal differential hasn't happened post lockout.

They took bad to a whole other level.

I doubt opposing teams took checking any Florida players very seriously. Probably a steady diet of back up goaltenders and just enough to win performances by the opposition. If you have watched any Oilers games in the last 2-3 seasons you know the routine.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by wretched34

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/05/0...rd-nominations

Love the winefest.

There is nothing about wine in that article.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

More important minutes isn't saying much when you play for Florida. The Panthers were on pace for 61 points and -100 goal differential. The 61 points pro-rated to 82 games is worse than any of the last place Oilers teams finishes and a -100 goal differential hasn't happened post lockout.

They took bad to a whole other level.

I doubt opposing teams took checking any Florida players very seriously. Probably a steady diet of back up goaltenders and just enough to win performances by the opposition. If you have watched any Oilers games in the last 2-3 seasons you know the routine.

True for both the Oilers and the Panthers.

However, there are still more important, and more difficult minutes in any game, on any team. And Huberdeau was getting them.

[T@T]

Is Sven still eligible for next year?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by T@T

Is Sven still eligible for next year?

Yes.

Also, Saad was picked with our second. I miss those.

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by getbak

Interesting series of Tweets from Bob McKenzie:

Based on that, McKenzie didn't even have one of the final three on his ballot.

It's a ballot of 5, so he still could of had two of the nominees on his ballot, along with Yak, Dillon, and Brodin.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

It's a ballot of 5, so he still could of had two of the nominees on his ballot, along with Yak, Dillon, and Brodin.

Yeah, that's what I said. If he had those three on his ballot, that means he didn't have one of the final three.