Calder no easy choice

[30ranfordfan]

My thinking is that you've probably got the 3 nominees correct. Myers, IMO, probably deserves it.

The whole team performance thing though - it does't have anything to do with the Calder. It's is awarded as follows:

"to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League."

So, the fact that Duchene is on a playoff team, and Tavares is not.... is irrelevant. If we were talking about the Hart trophy it should (and would) come into play.... but this is rookie of the year.

The impact they had on their team should have absolutely nothing to do with this award..... only the level of proficiency they displayed during the season.

This is why I think Myers should win it. He played like he was a 10 year vet.

But this is also why I don't understand the love-fest for Duchene, and the bashing of Tavares. The had the same number of goals (24) and Duchene beat him by a single point (55 to 54). Did Duchene have the better season? Overall, I think yes he did...... but they were close enough that I don't see how one can be considered a calder favorite, and the other gets tossed out of the conversation.

Tavares doesn't even deserve to be one of the 3 mentioned IMO.

Duchene, Myers, Howard

Who you give it to out of those 3, I don't know

Myers and Howard have had the biggest impacts on their teams. Howard gave the Wings goaltending, and kept them in contention through injuries

Myers significantly helped Buffalo's D-line, when quite frankly, it was pathetic.

Duchene helped with the other youngsters of Colorado to get them from 3rd worst team in the NHL, to the playoffs.

Where are the Islanders? Oh yeah, they did horrible just like last year.

Gotta look at the impact they had on their teams, not just stats

[doniceage]

I'll argue that a little differently. Personally, I think that the voters should take into account every game that these players played in the NHL as a rookie. In Howard's case, that would include the starts he made from the time he was drafted until now. The award is supposed to go to best ROOKIE meaning best player of rookie status. To not give it to Howard because of experience would be dumb but to not give it to Howard because of bad performance in that prior experience would make sense.

I'm just going to say this outright, I think that Howard has been a phenomenal goalie and is certainly worthy of a shot at Calder. I just think that Myers is slightly more worthy.

Steve

In all honesty as you say we can spin the argument anyway we want. The problem is if a guy is deserving per the NHL rules (not our interpretation) we should look at his prerformance and judge it for what it worth.

As you can go further and say some guy that seasoned up in the minor leagues who never played a game in the NHL would not be deserving because he 25 instead of 21 or 19 etc.

I think a lot of folks think Myer should deserve it based on team affiliation. I do not think Howard will win it but find it ironic that over half do not even mention him in the top 3 when you look at stats.

DON

[mr ozzie]

Anyone care to explain the rookie rules? Minimum games played, years played, etc? Thanks.

[30ranfordfan]

Here's the eligability rules:

can not have acheived his 26th birthday by sept 15 of the season in question
can not have played in more than 25 games in any one previousNHL season.
can not have played in 6 or more games in any 2 previous NHL season.

[30ranfordfan]

I agree completely Don.

To suggest that Howard has some sort of unfair advantage because he's older..... or been in games before this year.... is about as lame an argument against him winning the trophy as you can get. There is a specific set of criteria you need to meet in order to be eligible. Howard meets that - so he should be judged based on his level of play this year (compared to the other rookies) and nothing else.

Howard, it should be obvious, was the best Rookie Goalie this year. He'll get the nomination over Rask or Neimi. He has to. It's tricky comparing guys who play different positions.... but I would still go with Myers as the winner. His level of play, IMO, was just that much better than Howard, Duchene, or Tavares.

In all honesty as you say we can spin the argument anyway we want. The problem is if a guy is deserving per the NHL rules (not our interpretation) we should look at his prerformance and judge it for what it worth.

As you can go further and say some guy that seasoned up in the minor leagues who never played a game in the NHL would not be deserving because he 25 instead of 21 or 19 etc.

I think a lot of folks think Myer should deserve it based on team affiliation. I do not think Howard will win it but find it ironic that over half do not even mention him in the top 3 when you look at stats.

DON

[jr27]

Myers
Howard
rask

[Prime B]

As much as I love Matty D, I gotta say playing defense and having the East coast hockey writer bias in his favor, Myers will win it.

Not that he doesn't deserve to but that WILL help him no matter what anyone says.

1. Myers
2. Duchene
3. Rask