It’s probably a little early to start talking major awards.
Only the Vancouver Canucks have cracked the 20-game mark and there are a handful of teams that have yet to hit the quarter-poll. The New Jersey Devils have played just 11 games, for crying out loud.
Yet as the season rolls along and with only 56 games scheduled, contenders for the year-end awards are starting to emerge.
In Edmonton, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are both building their case for the Hart Trophy although it always seemed strange to have to MVP candidates from the same team. There’s a guy on the Leafs, his name escapes me at the moment, that’s probably in the mix too. Victor Hedman looks like the front-runner for the Norris Trophy and his teammate Andrei Vasilevskiy has to be the favourite for the Vezina Trophy.
Meanwhile, in what has been a generally unpleasant start to the season, the Ottawa Senators may also have a chance at some hardware in a few months.
Through 19 games, Josh Norris, Artem Zub and Tim Stützle have all emerged as legitimate contenders for the Calder Trophy.
Josh Norris started the season on Ottawa’s top line and while he has bounced around a bit since then, he continues to produce as much as an rookie in the league. The winner of last year’s AHL Rookie of the Year, has clearly picked up where he left off after an impressive year in Belleville.
He has 10 points in 19 games, which has him tied for the league-lead among rookies. Pius Suter, a 24-year old Chicago Blackhawks forward and one-time Sens Training Camp participant, also has 10 points in 18 games.
And not far behind Sute and Norris is Ottawa’s third-overall pick in the 2020 Entry Draft, Tim Stützle. With a couple points in last night’s series finale against the Leafs, Stützle now has nine points in 16 games.
While Stützle is clearly learning the defensive side of the game at the NHL level, his dazzling speed and skill are on display almost every night and he’s already putting together an impressive highlight reel early in his career.
The first goal he scored was unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory, let alone by a rookie, and the goal he scored against the Leafs last night may have been just as impressive.
To get off that kind of shot at that speed. Yeesh. I’ve watched the replay five or six times and I still can barely see the puck leave his stick or enter the net. It’s ridiculous. That’s the youngest player in the NHL doing that, by the way.
The third candidate is probably the biggest surprise of the bunch.
Artem Zub may not have the flash of a Stützle or Norris but he’s quietly off to an excellent start to his NHL career. He’s obviously a long-shot but his underlying numbers have been kind of incredible and it’s clear that he’s gradually earning the trust of the Coaching Staff in Ottawa. He’s likely to take on an even bigger role as the season continues.
Of course, there are some other good rookies out there making an early name for the themselves. Minnesota Wild forward Kiril Kaprizov, New Jersey Devil defenceman Ty Smith and Chicago Blackhawks goalie Kevin Lankinen are all off to strong starts to the season.
While the three Senators may be considered longshots at this point, it’s clear that all three players are going to be playing an increased role as the season progresses. And in the case of Stützle, it almost feels like he’s getting better every night.
Ottawa may not always be getting the results they are looking for as a team but the young players at the centre of this rebuild continue to shine.
And at this rate, it may result in a Calder Trophy at the end of the year.
-Couple roster moves for the Senators yesterday as they sent Joey Daccord back to the AHL team and recalled Kevin Mandolese to the taxi squad and then followed that up by sending Matthew Peca back to the taxi squad and recalling Artem Anisimov. Sens are scheduled to practice at 10:30 AM this morning so we’ll see what they have in mind for a lineup heading into tomorrow night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Here’s hoping for a Thomas Chabot sighting. He was a late scratch in Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
-No Sens on Friday or Saturday means we have to look elsewhere for our hockey fix. Thankfully we had North Dakota and Belleville games on last night. The BSens struggled again, falling to 1-3-0 in their season-opening four-game set against the Laval Rocket. Logan Brown and Filip Chlapik both missed the game due to injury. Much better result for North Dakota as they cruised to a 4-1 win over Omaha. Sens prospects had their fingerprints all over the win- goal and two assists for Bernard-Docker, goal for Tyler Kleven and an assist for Jake Sanderson. UND is now 16-4-1 on the year. They’ll play Omaha again tonight in Grand Forks.
