The race for the 2010 Calder trophy has narrowed to a much smaller field over the past few months, and now is looking like a two horse race.
With two goals last night, though, Matt Duchene now has 47 points on the year, including 23 goals. Even though he was never considered a favorite to take home hardware this year, his absolute brilliance on an Avalanche team many left for dead early on has been one of the main reasons why this team has playoffs on their mind.
Duchene hasn’t went wire-to-wire, though. John Tavares had the early lead in hockey’s version of rookie of the year, but has really struggled as of late with the New York Islanders. He has 36 points in a fairly impressive rookie campaign, but hasn’t been able to keep up with Duchene’s torrid pace. Unless Tavares and the Islanders make a late surge over the last 15-18 games, you can pretty much count him out of the running.
That leaves only two more possible candidates in Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers, and Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard. The former, alongside Ryan Miller, has been directly responsible for Buffalo’s resurgency in the Northeast division. Right now, Myers leads the NHL’s rookie pack in both ice time and blocked shots, even though his offensive numbers have cooled off just a touch. He currently has 32 points on the year, including 24 helpers.
Jimmy Howard has emerged as a dark horse among the voters thanks to an epic collapse by Chris Osgood. With the Red Wings struggling between the pipes, Mike Babcock rested his laurels (and 2010 performance) on the young netminder, and Howard has responded admirably. Howard’s .923 save percentage and 2.38 GAA make him a strong performer against any competition, let alone just the rookie sample size. He also has 24 wins on the year, but it’s my personal take that he’s going to be ruled out of the running should Detroit miss the playoffs – they’re currently sitting in the nine seed.
What we have is an argument between Duchene or Myers. Duchene gives you the flash and points, while Myers gives you the gritty defense you love to see in a young player. Both players have piggybacked their team at times and will be dancing in the post-season, so team performance becomes a moot point.
Which player had more of an impact? Tough to say right now, but I’ll take Duchene if only because he’s seemingly done it all in a mediocre offense, while Tyler Myers does have a little angel in Ryan Miller between the pipes.
Travis Yost is a native New Yorker and recent Arizona State University product . He is the team beat writer for the Ottawa Senators over at Hockey Buzz, and covers all sports here at The Prose. 