The Calder Memorial Trophy

A (VERY) early look at the potential nominees

Yes, it is a bit early to be talking about the NHL awards.  But these rookies are battling hard night in and night out, and deserve to share in a bit of the spotlight a little less than a quarter of the way throught their first TUFHL season.

The top rookies consisit of some big names and favorites to take home the coveted prize. Included are some surprises so far who may end up stealing the trophy, or at the very least, a nomination from one of the higher profile players from this list.

Kirill Kaprizov from the Vegas Golden Knights is tied for the rookie lead in games played (15) and assists (9) and leads all rookies in goals (8) and points (17).  He's also only one point back from being the team leader in points for Vegas as he is playing top line minutes.

Trevor Zegras was another early favorite for the Calder.  He recently moved to the 2nd line for the Arizona Coyotes, as the coach hopes this move will help spread scoring around the roster a bit.  Zegras has only played in 13 games so far, but is 2nd in rooking scoring with 11 points.  His 3 goals have him 4th in rookie goal scoring while his 8 assists have him 3rd for rookies.

Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators is second in rookie goal scoring (5), ninth in rookie assists (3) and tied for 4th in rookie scoring with 8 points.

Quinton Byfield from the Arizona Coyotes, was expected to play a much bigger role before the season started.  Arizona looked as if they were throwing the towl in, before the start of the season.  They had penciled Byfield into the #1C slot, but after some roster moves, was moved down to the 2nd line, and finally at present, is anchoring the 3rd line in the desert.  While his ice time has diminished, he was still managed to put up 4 goals (3rd in rookie goal scoring), 4 assists (t-5th for rookies) and 8 points (t-4th for rookies).

K'Andre Miller of the Minnesota Wild could be an obstacle for Kaprizov.  The rookie blueliner leads rookie defencemen in scoring and is 3rd in all rookie scoring with 10 points (1 goal and 9 assists).  He also has 19 blocked shots and 22 hits to add to his resume so far this season.

Bowen Byram of the Arizona Coyotes has 8 points (1 goal and 7 assists) for second in rookie dmen scoring.  His 8 points also have him tied for 4th in rookie scoring.  He only has 11 blocked shots, but has a whopping 35 hits so far in 13 games.

Arturs Silvos has played in  8 games for the Vancouver Canucks, starting in 7 of those and has gone 6-1-1 so far with 3.06 GAA and 88.45% save %.  Not GREAT numbers, but his W-L record can't be denied.  Silvos also has 2 assists under his belt so far this season.

Mads Sogaard of the Ottawa Senators has started 9 games and is 5-3-0 in those games.  He has a GAA of 3.84 and a save % of 89.15% along with 1 assist.

Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders has played in 8 games, starting in 7 of them and has a  4-4-0 record.  He has a respectable 2.72 GAA and 90.43% save %.  He also has one shutout so far this season.

Cayden Primeau of the Minnesota Wild has played in a whopping 11 games for them this season.  He is 2-7-1 and has 1 assist to go along with his high 4.72 GAA and save % of 85.97%.

Jacob Ingham of the Arizona Coyotes has played in 5 games and is 4-1-0 with 3.27 GAA and 90.95% save %.  He also has 1 assist.

Logan Thompson of the Vegas Golden Knights played in 7 games, going 4-2-0 with a 3.20 GA and a save % of 87.01%

Honorable Mentions

Radim Zahorna - ARI - 1G - 4A - 5P

Artem Zub - VGK - 2G - 3A - 5P

Jeremy Swayman - BOS - 4GP - 2W - 2.65 GAA - 93.52% S%

It's still too early to predict who might eventually win the Calder this season, but we have an idea on who to keep on eye on and who are dark horses may be.