Any other season, Ivan Demidov is walking away with the Calder. But not this season.
The 2026 Calder Trophy race has been a fun one to watch this season. On Thursday night, two rookies went head-to-head when New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer battled Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov at the Bell Centre.
And, let's just say, that Canadiens fans saw why Schaefer is the clear front-runner for the award, despite Demidov's brilliance this season.
There's no question that Demidov, 20, is a tremendous player. But there's elite, and then there's generational, and Schaefer is the latter.
With the Islanders down 2-0, Schaefer scored twice in 55 seconds to get the game tied up before the second period came to a close. Then, after an Anders Lee tally tied the game late after the Islanders trailed yet again, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the game-winning goal in overtime.
Demidov leads all rookies with 47 points (12 goals, 35 assists) in 58 games. There's no denying that.
But Schaefer's 41 points as a defenseman in 59 games are incredible, let alone the fact that he's scored 18 goals, which puts him second behind Anaheim Ducks' rookie Beckett Sennecke. His 23 assists rank third.
Any other year, Demidov would be walking away with hardware. But this isn't any other year. He's going up against an 18-year-old who is accomplishing things at the NHL level that the league has never seen.
Most players have ceilings. Schaefer does not.
There are over 20 games left before Demidov and Schaefer's rookie seasons come to a close. Both should be proud of what they've been able to accomplish, but there can only be one winner, and right now, it's Schaefer's award to lose.