The Calder Trophy is New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer's to lose, despite impressive rookie campaigns from Montreal Canadiens right winger Ivan Demidov and Anaheim Ducks right winger Beckett Sennecke.
The NHL’s race for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie is always a thrilling one. But this year, while there are multiple rookies with great promise, the Calder Trophy is New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer’s to lose.
On Thursday, he scored a pair of goals, giving him the record for most goals by an 18-year-old defenseman.
Of course, we have to give other rookies this season their due.
Anaheim Ducks right winger Beckett Sennecke has been excellent, with 19 goals and 48 points in 58 games. And Montreal Canadiens right winger Ivan Demidov has also had a great year, putting up 35 assists and 47 points in 58 games. Both forwards are leading the NHL in the rookie scoring department.
However, Schaefer has had a more notable impact at both ends of the ice for the Islanders.
The 18-year-old has generated 18 goals and 41 points in 59 games – amazing numbers for a first-year D-man – but the more impressive stat is Schaefer’s 24:07 ice time average.
That’s far-and-away the best time-on-ice average of any first-year player. That’s nearly four full minutes more than the next rookie, Calgary Flames D-man Yan Kuznetsov.
Furthermore, Schaefer averages nearly seven more minutes than Sennecke (17:26) and nearly nine more minutes than Demidov (15:26).
In addition, despite being on the ice far more than other rookies, Schaefer currently has a plus-minus rating of plus-10, which is the third-best mark of any rookie player this season.
Matthew Schaefer (David Kirouac-Imagn Images)He's only behind Boston Bruins center Fraser Minten (plus-18) and Washington Capitals right winger Justin Sourdif (plus-12), who are averaging less than 15 minutes of action per game.
The plus-minus statistic can be tricky when it comes to a player’s effectiveness, but when you look at Schaefer being on the ice for nearly one period-and-one-quarter per game, it’s all the more impressive to see he’s on the ice for more goals-for than goals-against.
In fact, he has the second-best on-ice even-strength goal differential among rookies at a plus-12.
He’s not protected nearly as much as Sennecke and Demidov, and yet he’s still out there, night-in and night-out, as a cornerstone member of the Islanders, taking on the best talent in the world and thriving against it.
Thus, it would be tremendously shocking at this point to see the Calder being awarded to anyone other than Schaefer.
BetMGM has Schafer as a heavy favorite for the Calder Trophy at 1.05 (-2000) odds. In comparison, Demidov is next at 15.00 (+1400) odds, and Sennecke is at 17.00 (+1600) odds.
As the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, Schaefer has had sky-high expectations on Long Island, and he’s exceeded every one of them.
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