RC-Class this year: hyped but weak ?

[Marko]

I know... they are young and the best is yet to come.

Before the season, we saw a overwhelming hype about the big 3 (Tavares, Hedman, Duchene).

Tavares had a decent start, but has gone cold for like 30 Games now (lets see how low his cards can be...).

Hedman plays solid, but not like the "once in a generation talent"-tag he was advertised with.

Duchene is starting to find his way and looks like a 60-point-guy this year, what most likely will be first among all rookies, not really a whopping number.

if i have to make a ranking of rookie-classes (05/06 - 09/10) it looks like this

1. 05/06 (Crosby, Ovechkin, Lundqvist, Richards) - Number 1 by far

2. 07/08 (Kane, Toews, Backstrom, Price) - close call
3. 06/07 (Malkin, Stastny, Kopitar, Backstrom) - could have been 2.

4. 08/09 (Ryan, Stamkos, Doughty, Mason) - slight edge over 09/10
5. 09/10 (Tavares, Myers, Duchene, Howard) - very disappointing to me

what went wrong ?

[mugatu471]

Eh, I think the 06/07 was better than the 07/08 but the rest is correct

[RGM81]

The 09-10 RCs are selling far better than the 08-09 crop ever did. Outside of Stamkos and Doughty, how many of those RCs are going to hold their value? Mason's in a major sophomore slump (kinda like that Habs goalie from 07-08 was), Schenn has dropped off the map, and there's really nobody else.

From 09-10 in addition to those "big three" Tyler Myers is selling very strong, indeed outselling Hedman at this point. All that Calder talk is going a long way in helping him out.

For my rankings:
1. 2005-06 - nothing will touch this class anytime soon.
2. 2007-08 - Price, Toews, and Kane are still very popular sellers and there's a bunch of solid mid-carders in there too.
3. 2009-10 - completing the "on again, off again" year cycle - very strong pack and the hobby has really rebounded from a weak 08-09.
4. 2008-09 - Stamkos and Doughty leading the way here, they're actually on the rise thanks to stronger sophomore years.
5. 2006-07 - outside of Malkin, there's nobody here that if you pull a YG you're doing a big "yahoo" for.

[HammerHawks]

Howard was a RC in 05-06, but he's an NHL "rookie" this year.

I have to agree with you though. The rookies really haven't been doing all that well in the exception of Duchene and Myers, Niemi too.

[MatsSundin13Rocks]

I disagree that this year's rookie class is weak. Maybe the sales for the rookie cards may be weak but the rookie class isn't weak. Lots of rookies with tonnes of potential and skill. Just going to take time for them to develop because it is a very young rookie class with lots of 18 year olds. Look at what the Sedins are doing now and compare it to there rookie year. There is no comparison because they have developed into superstars from the potential they had when they were drafted. Some of the current crop of rookies won't develop into full time NHL players while others will develop into regular NHL players with a few developing into stars. Already Tavares, Duchene, Myers, Del Zotto, Kane, Hedman, and more are playing key roles for the teams they are on.

[clearshot]

09/10 is a strong class, just needs time. The talent is definitely there, but the top rated rookies are playing on very young teams.

[30ranfordfan]

This year's rookie class is loaded with good players. I guess I would ask - what do you mean by 'strong' or 'weak' ?? If you're talking about potential top-10 players, there's 1. Does that make it weak? I dunno.

We're not going to get an 05-06 type class again, for a long, long time. That's just not normal.

[bidds55]

The 09/10 rookie class is decent, and should look better over time. The game, and the hobby were just so completely spoiled by a once in a generation rookie class in 2005-06, and now we are disappointed when we don't see a comparable class each year.

[joshpackham]

i think to compare year by year is fine, but it'd be neat to see the 05-06 rookie split into 04-05 and then 05-06, obviously you've still got ovechkin and crosby, but your 1-5 rookies from each of those years wouldn't be nearly as impressive. thats what happens when we lose a year of hockey and we get 2 draft classes making 1 amazing hockey card year.

[TMacfreak91]

i think to compare year by year is fine, but it'd be neat to see the 05-06 rookie split into 04-05 and then 05-06, obviously you've still got ovechkin and crosby, but your 1-5 rookies from each of those years wouldn't be nearly as impressive. thats what happens when we lose a year of hockey and we get 2 draft classes making 1 amazing hockey card year.

Very well stated. I think that it's massively unfair to use 05-06 as ANY comparison. Without the lockout causing a year to be lost, that crop, like you said, would've been split and wouldn't be anywhere near as strong. That being said, I think that even though Tavares gets all the hype, so far it appears that my boy Tyler Myers and Matt Duchene are clear front-runners for Calder. Also, ESPECIALLY for a defenseman, Myers is getting SIGNIFICANT hobby-love which IMO makes this draft class all the more stronger.

Just my thoughts

Steve