The last time a member of the Canadiens won the Calder Trophy, it was Ken Dryden in 1972. We will remember that the year before, he had won the Stanley Cup. You know, the time when the CH won the Cup?So it’s been an eternity since the Canadiens haven’t had a Calder winner. And it’s possible that in 2025 and 2026, with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, the Habs will have two winners in a row.
But for that, Hutson will have to keep playing well first. And then, we’ll see about Demidov in due time.
Currently, we know that four players stand out more than others for the Calder across the NHL. Besides Hutson, Macklin Celebrini (forward, Sharks), Matvei Michkov (forward, Flyers), and Dustin Wolf (goalie, Flames) are at the heart of the race.
And who will win?
The experts from NHL.com were polled to see what they think. A scoring system (five points for first place, four points for second place, three points for third place, two points for fourth place, and one point for fifth place) was used.
And according to 16 experts, it’s Hutson who is leading the vote with about 75% of the season behind us. He received 67 points in the NHL vote, one more than Macklin Celebrini, his former teammate in the NCAA.
Even if Celebrini had more first-place votes (seven against six), we observe that it’s the Canadiens’ rookie who is ahead of the Sharks’ rookie right now.
Can it change? Obviously. After all, Celebrini is quite a player.But for now, since Hutson is a defenseman, he seems to have the lead. He leads the NHL in points among rookies despite his position, which is no small feat.
And it’s not like he’s doing it with a non-playoff team either…(Credit: NHL.com)
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Six first-place votes for Hutson… seven first-place votes for Celebrini… and the other three belong to the Flames’ goalie, who ranks third with 46 points.
That says a lot about Matvei Michkov (41 points in the NHL ranking), doesn’t it?
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