A third of the 2025-26 NHL season is already in the books, and the rookie scoring race (and Calder Trophy race) promises to be much tighter than last season. As you’ll now doubt recall, Lane Hutson led all rookies in scoring for much of the previous campaign and ended the year with 66 points in 82 games, three points clear of Philadelphia Flyers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers]’ rookie Matvei Michkov. This time around, the hope for Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens]’ fans was that Ivan Demidov would be dominating the rookie stats, but so far, he’s had some pretty serious competition. As things stand, the Anaheim Ducks’ [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/anaheim-ducks] Beckett Sennecke is leading the way with 24 points in 29 games, just two points ahead of Demidov, who has a game in hand. New York Islanders [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders]’ standout defenseman Matthew Schaefer has 21 points in 30 games with a plus-nine differential and averages a staggering 23:27 on the ice. Canadiens Prospect Invited To World Junior Championship [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-prospect-invited-to-world-junior-championship] Canadiens: Lending Santa A Hand [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-lending-santa-a-hand] Canadiens Come Up Short After Costly Second Frame [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-come-up-short-after-costly-second-frame] Washington Capitals’ [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals] winger Ryan Leaonard has 18 points in 29 games, and Oliver Kapanen rounds up the top five with 14 points in 28 games. Demidov leads all rookies on assists with 16, while Kapanen is one of four rookies with eight goals, one less than leader Sennecke. After a red-hot start to the season, Jakub Dobes had gotten himself in the conversation in October, but his less-than-stellar November hasn’t been great stats-wise. Still, he leads all rookie goaltenders in wins with 10, tied with Yaroslav Askarov. His 3.03 goals-against average is only the seventh-best amongst rookie masked men. Meanwhile, his save percentage now stands at .890, which is the 10th-highest amongst the same group. It’s safe to say that he’s lost a lot of ground in that race, especially with Jesper Wallstedt having some impressive numbers: 1.95 GAAV and .936 SV with eight wins in 11 starts. It's too early to predict who’s going to win the Calder or even the winner of the scoring race now, but we’ve got a few exciting months left in store. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains]. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on The Hockey News. Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I].
