2014-15 Calder Trophy Race

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by flameswin

You saw they had 7 goals. There's no such thing as seening things.

Friends helping friends. I'm glad you were able to understand what I was saying though and just went out of your way to be you.

[Stay Golden]

If Johnny wins the Calder he will have to either outpoint Forsburg or put up 5-10 more goals.
Voters might take into consideration Forsburg's +23 vs Johnny's +11.
Gaudreau's 6th in the NHL for takeaways vs Forsburgs 33rd.
This award i think wont get decided based on stats until the final week and it is going be a 2 horse race and it is going come down to who the voters like more.
Johnny i believe is giving the Eastern media more exciting nightly highlights he is creating a buzz about his play.

[djsFlames]

Not too concerned. If Gaudreau keeps up his pace and play from this past month, Forsberg's play will have to be all-worldly to stay ahead. Johnny has already mostly closed a huge gap from early november.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Friends helping friends. I'm glad you were able to understand what I was saying though and just went out of your way to be you.

Ha! Oops, fully deserved.

[Street Pharmacist]

Ekblad with 21 points is amazing

[dammage79]

Bump. With the de-rail in the Bennett thread over the debate bout Ekblad, I figured I'd give it a bump so there's a place on the front page to carry on the debate where it should.

[Derek Sutton]

Though not as glamorous Gaudreau should also get serious consideration for the Lady Byng.

[Jets4Life]

I hope Hutchinson can play at least 30 games in the second half of the season. If he keeps his numbers up, he will definitely be in contention.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

There is a little more to being the best defenseman in the NHL than putting up good stats.

Doughty - like Giordano - is also their top shut-down guy.

Ekblad has had a great rookie season, as I've already said. My issue was comparing him to Doughty (and you compared him to a 23 year old Doughty, not an 18 year old), which is ridiculous.

Ekblad should and likely will surpass Doughty's rookie season.

As far as comapring him to 23 year old Doughty I don't think it's ridiculous at all. Even if there is more to it that just raw data, Ekblad is on pace to equal Doughty's 2010-11 season. Not like I stated he was on pace for Doughty's best season which was his 09-10 season (22 yrs old).

And if Ekblad is paired with Mitchell, I cannot fathom a situation where Kulikov and Campbell are the top shut down pairing for the Panthers. Ekblad is Doughty 2.0 so far. Will this continue throughout his career? who knows, but right now he's on par.

[Saqe]

Ekblad has been paired with Campbell pretty much all season long.

The most impressive thing about him is the way he thinks the game and how smart he is. There are obviously things that he still lacks since he is so young but he rarely puts himself in a tough spot and tries to minimize the risk by making the simple play. Just a really smart player.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Though not as glamorous Gaudreau should also get serious consideration for the Lady Byng.

That trophy will probably go to Patrick Kane.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Ekblad should and likely will surpass Doughty's rookie season.

As far as comapring him to 23 year old Doughty I don't think it's ridiculous at all. Even if there is more to it that just raw data, Ekblad is on pace to equal Doughty's 2010-11 season. Not like I stated he was on pace for Doughty's best season which was his 09-10 season (22 yrs old).

And if Ekblad is paired with Mitchell, I cannot fathom a situation where Kulikov and Campbell are the top shut down pairing for the Panthers. Ekblad is Doughty 2.0 so far. Will this continue throughout his career? who knows, but right now he's on par.

Playoff/Olympics Doughty is twice the player regular season Doughty is though. Thats the true mark to shoot for.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

Playoff/Olympics Doughty is twice the player regular season Doughty is though. Thats the true mark to shoot for.

I agree with that.

[GioforPM]

If he wins, great, if not, there are plenty of Calder winners who didn't turn out to be elite or anything (some busted out in fact). And remember Crosby lost to Ovie and who'd you rather have now?

That's my rationalization anyway

[Slava]

Duhatschek says that it comes down to Forsberg, Gaudreau and Hutchinson. With those three and then Ekblad you probably have the top four at this point. My question here is where is Drouin? I don't watch a lot of Tampa, but is he just not fitting in well or just not playing as well as expected?

[Hackey]

I don't watch much Tampa either but they are pretty deep. Drouin might not be getting the same opportunities as Forsberg and Gaudreau. He's only 19 as well so I'm sure there isn't any huge rush. 18pts in 34 games I believe. Not terrible stats.

[JJ1532]

He seems to be slowly ramping up. Set up the game winner for Stamkos tonight, has points in his last 3 games.

Disappointing that the match up between Gaudreau and Ekblad tonight was a total non event. Both were awful.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Ekblad should and likely will surpass Doughty's rookie season.

As far as comapring him to 23 year old Doughty I don't think it's ridiculous at all. Even if there is more to it that just raw data, Ekblad is on pace to equal Doughty's 2010-11 season. Not like I stated he was on pace for Doughty's best season which was his 09-10 season (22 yrs old).

And if Ekblad is paired with Mitchell, I cannot fathom a situation where Kulikov and Campbell are the top shut down pairing for the Panthers. Ekblad is Doughty 2.0 so far. Will this continue throughout his career? who knows, but right now he's on par.

Glad you brought this here - still wanted to talk about it but don't want to keep derailing the Bennett thread.

First, I remember Doughty's rookie season well because I said at the time (over and over) that I thought Doughty was the best 18 year old defenseman that I had seen since Bobby Orr. He didn't just put up decent points, he was poised, intelligent, smooth-skating, and was fantastic defensively. He controlled the game, even at 18.

I was at the game last night and focused on Ekblad as, being a defenseman, I tend to focus on them, and it was the first chance I have had to see him live. On his first shift:

a) he stayed out too long
b) he got the puck in the neutral zone with plenty of time but turned it over needlessly
c) when the Flames approached the blueline, he fell, allowing an easy zone entry
d) the puck was dumped into his corner and the forechecker (don't remember who it was but he should have gotten as assist) hit him and completely took him out of the play and took the puck from him, sending it out front to Stajan
e) 1-0 Flames - entirely his fault

Watching the rest of the game, I thought that when he joined the offense, he was very effective. In his own end, he looked very much the 5/6 defenseman. I would even say a bit of a train wreck. One thing that surprised me was how often Flames' forwards were able to check him off the puck and get body position on him.

Anyway, not trying to beat on him. He is big, a good skater, and has good offensive instincts. But as would be expected, he looked like an 18 year old defensively - and the Panthers tried to shelter him (understandable).

Doughty, even at 18, was a fantastic defenseman. While he gets credit for his offensive skills, he is so under-rated defensively IMO (and always was). As the Olympics and the playoffs have showed over and over, Doughty is brilliant at both ends of the ice. IMO, the best defenseman in the NHL.

Ekblad has tons of talent. But he is no Doughty - offensively, sure, but defensively, not even close. Certainly not a 23 year old Doughty, and not even an 18 year old Doughty.

Quoting stats to suggest that he is comparable, completely misses the mark IMO.

[#-3]

I'm curious on Ekblads quality of comp?

And advanced stats geeks?

Not saying it is the case and the guy is young, and has lots of room to grow. But when i see a high scoring young Dman on a minus team with plus stats playing with an experience partner (Like Campbell or Hamrlik), I wonder if there is some of the Dion Phanuef effect? Getting really good match ups for the first two years and looking better than he is. If this is the case he will either need to grow allot as a player or will struggle when the competition improves.

Now Phanuef never really grew as a player, and if your not the Oilers I think you can expect growth out of most of your 18 year olds. So I still think the future looks bright for Ekblad. Just Musing about the possibility that his numbers are inflated.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by #-3

I'm curious on Ekblads quality of comp?

And advanced stats geeks?

Not saying it is the case and the guy is young, and has lots of room to grow. But when i see a high scoring young Dman on a minus team with plus stats playing with an experience partner (Like Campbell or Hamrlik), I wonder if there is some of the Dion Phanuef effect? Getting really good match ups for the first two years and looking better than he is. If this is the case he will either need to grow allot as a player or will struggle when the competition improves.

Now Phanuef never really grew as a player, and if your not the Oilers I think you can expect growth out of most of your 18 year olds. So I still think the future looks bright for Ekblad. Just Musing about the possibility that his numbers are inflated.

quick check says Ekblad is getting similar quality of competition (based on TOI%) as Wideman and Russell but getting close to 60% offensive zone starts