Connor Bedard won the Calder Trophy in 2023-24 after an impressive rookie season in the NHL. He wasn't the only player on the Chicago Blackhawks that had rookie status though. Along with him, there was also Kevin Korchinski, Wyatt Kaiser, Cole Guttman, and Isaak Phillips.
Some of the young players didn't play enough games so they were eligible to be a rookie this season. To be considered a rookie, a player cannot have played 25 or more games in any previous season or played six or more games in each of the two previous seasons.
This season, there was a new crop of rookies in Chicago, but none of them received any votes for the Calder Trophy despite 13 rookies receiving at least one fifth place vote.
Chicago's players that were rookies this season and can't be in the future included Frank Nazar, Nolan Allan, Colton Dach, Landon Slaggert, and Louis Crevier. All of them played at least 25 games, Dach playing that exact number of games.
Notable young players on the Blackhawks that will be considered rookies next season or beyond include Artyom Levshunov (18 games), Sam Rionzel (9 games), Oliver Moore (9 games), Ethan Del Mastro (24 games), and Ryan Greene (2 games).
Lane Hutson took home the Calder Trophy with 165 first place votes. Nobody on the Blackhawks deserved to be in the running this season to win it, but Nazar could have gotten a fifth place vote like Drew Helleson and Denton Mateychuk did.
Nazar finished the season with 12 goals and 26 points in 53 games. Watch out for Rinzel next season as he could have a top pairing role for the entirety of 2025-26 and make a big impact.
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