The Montreal Canadiens have got a big crop of rookies this season, but two of them are really shining and have the Habs sitting in second-place for most points produced by rookies.
After taking a look at the defence corps’ offensive production for the Montreal Canadiens, it’s time to do the same for the rookie crop. The Chicago Blackhawks lead the league in rookie point-production with 77, followed by the Habs in second place, and the New York Islanders wrap up the top-three.
The Hawks' rookie production is spread out across six rookies: Artyom Levshunov (21), Ryan Greene (18), Oliver Moore (15), Colton Dach (9), Sam Rinzel (8), and Nick Lardis (6). Ethan Del Mastro played two games but was held off the scoresheet.
Meanwhile, eight rookies have donned the Sainte-Flanelle this season, including goaltenders Jacob Fowler and Jakub Dobes. Still, the scoring has come from five of those rookies: Ivan Demidov (who leads the rookie scoring race with 43 points, five points ahead of Beckett Sennecke), Oliver Kapanen (27 – fifth in the rookie scoring race), Owen Beck (1), Florian Xhekaj (1) and Jared Davidson (1). Adam Engstrom also skated in 11 games but did not put up any points.
As for the Islanders, they’ve used six rookies this season but three of them have had a real impact on their offensive production: offensive defenseman Matthew Schaefer (34 points -third in the rookie scoring race), Calum Ritchie (15), Max Shabanov (15), Marshall Warren (3), Travis Mitchell (1) and Cole McWard (0).
Much like the Canadiens, the Washington Capitals, who are fourth in that department, have relied on two rookies: Ryan Leonard (29 -fourth in the rookie scoring race) and Justin Sourdif (21). As for the Vancouver Canucks, they come in fifth place with five rookies contributing: Linus Karlsson (22), Tom Willander (13), Liam Ohgren (5), Zeev Buium (5 – but he also had 14 points with the Minnesota Wild before being traded for Quinn Hughes), and Jonathan Lekkerimäki (2). The Anaheim Ducks come in sixth place through Sennecke (38), Ian Moore (7), and Tim Washe (1).
It’s not surprising, but no team has two rookies as productive as the Canadiens. Everyone expected Demidov to dominate the rookie scoring race, but he’s starting to have a bit of a lead. However, if he’s going to win the Calder Trophy, it feels like he’ll have to separate himself even more and find a way to remain on the first power play. At times, Martin St-Louis still takes him off. The fact that the second line has become so key for the Habs should weigh in the balance as well, since it has helped his ice time go up as well (now 15:20 and rising).
As things stand, Schaefer may still be ahead, though, given the significance of his role with the Isles on their first pairing and first power-play unit, and his current average ice time of 24:05. It will be interesting to see how the voting goes down this year, how much importance is given to the scoring race vs impact on the team. Kapanen won’t be in the conversation, but it’s still impressive to see him lead all rookies in goals. If Demidov were to net the Calder Trophy, it would be the first time that a Canadiens player has won it two years in a row.
Only three teams have achieved the feat, and it was long before there were 32 teams in the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs actually had three Calder Trophy winners in a row from 1942-43 to 1944-45: Gaye Stewart, Gus Bodnar, and Frank McCool. The New York Rangers had two consecutive winners in Gump Worsley in 1952-53 and Camille Henry in 1953-54, and the Boston Bruins did it last with Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson in 1966-67 and 1967-68. Will the Canadiens be next?
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