{"id":12371,"date":"2021-12-10T04:04:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12371"},"modified":"2021-12-10T04:04:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T04:04:23","slug":"the-next-batch-rookies-that-could-rule-the-nhl-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12371","title":{"rendered":"The next batch \u2013 rookies that could rule the NHL in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CALDER CANDIDATES. Could Elias Pettersson, Rasmus Dahlin, Eeli Tolvanen or Vitali Abramov be in the Calder conversation a year from now? Photos: Bildbyr\u00e5n<\/i><\/p>\n

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The Calder Memorial Trophy of 2018 hasn\u2019t even been handed out yet and still you want us to take a look at next year\u2019s candidates? Really?<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair enough then, let\u2019s have at it.<\/p>\n

Our look at the candidates for the 2018 Calder Trophy\u00a0ended with us essentially handing\u00a0Mathew Barzal\u00a0the award in advance \u2013 he has been that good this season. Projecting next year\u2019s rookie race is considerably more challenging, yet there are a handful of players who many agree are likely to be contenders for the Calder.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get the obvious candidates out of the way first; the upcoming draftees.<\/p>\n

The top 2018 NHL draft trio of\u00a0Rasmus Dahlin,\u00a0Andrei Svechnikov\u00a0and\u00a0Filip Zadina\u00a0are all likely to play in the NHL next season, regardless of the team they end up representing. Svechnikov and Zadina are both prolific goal scorers and could likely pot 15-20 goals (or more) right away if put in positions to succeed. Dahlin is the most dynamic rookie defender the league has seen in years and is likely to see 18-20 minutes of ice per game while putting up anywhere from 20-50 points in his first year. Going back to the post-lockout season of 2005-06, only two defenders have won the Calder Trophy \u2013\u00a0Tyler Myers\u00a0in 2009-10 and\u00a0Aaron Ekblad\u00a0in 2015-16 \u2013 but with Dahlin on the rise that could change in a hurry. Throw in OHL tower of power\u00a0Evan Bouchard\u00a0from the London Knights as an outsider among these draftees and you might have two defenders contending for the award.<\/p>\n

Then there are the players who were already drafted and had strong seasons in the three Canadian Hockey Leagues; OHL, WHL and QMJHL. If I was forced to suggest just one player from each league that could make an immediate impact in the NHL it\u2019d be:<\/p>\n

QMJHL:<\/strong>\u00a0Vitali Abramov\u00a0(Columbus Blue Jackets, 65th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2016)
\nRussian native Abramov put up a staggering 78 points (33+45) in 40 games playing for Victoriaville Tigres this season. He has continued his torrid pace into the playoffs where he has scored six goals in just five games thus far.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHL:<\/strong>\u00a0Aleksi Heponiemi\u00a0(Florida Panthers, 40th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2017)
\nI\u2019ve raved about this young Finnish playmaker before\u00a0and despite a mediocre showing at the World Juniors, Heponiemi still has enormous potential. He can dish the puck like nobody\u2019s business as evidenced by his 90 (!) assists in 57 games for the Swift Current Broncos. Should he bulk up a bit more, look out.<\/span><\/p>\n

OHL:<\/strong>\u00a0Morgan Frost\u00a0(Philadelphia Flyers, 27th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2017)
\nAn exciting center prospect for the Flyers who excels in almost every aspect of the game with an emphasis on playmaking\u2026 oh, you thought I was talking about\u00a0Nolan Patrick?\u00a0Not so. The Flyers have another one of those guys.\u00a0Morgon Frost\u00a0has had a terrific season for the Soo Greyhounds and should he go pro next season, he could do some damage in the NHL.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving on to players that have already cut their teeth playing professional hockey in Europe \u2013 namely players like\u00a0Eeli Tolvanen\u00a0(Nashville Predators, 30th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2017) and\u00a0Elias Pettersson(Vancouver Canucks, 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2017). Both Tolvanen and Pettersson performed well over expectations in their respective leagues with Tolvanen scoring 36 points (19+17) for Jokerit in the KHL and Pettersson winning the SHL scoring race with 56 points (24+32) in 44 games. Tolvanen might have a tough time cracking the Predators lineup but should he do it, he will have an incredible supporting cast for a Calder run. Pettersson on the other hand might find himself logging bigger minutes than expected with the Sedins retiring, but won\u2019t have the same offensive support outside of\u00a0Brock Boeser.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Finally, let us not forget about the AHL standouts. I\u2019ll highlight two in particular for this feature: forward\u00a0Daniel Sprong\u00a0(Pittsburgh Penguins, 46th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2015) and defenseman\u00a0Sami Niku(Winnipeg Jets, 198<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0overall in 2015). Sprong has long been considered an exciting prospect for the Penguins and with 29 goals in 58 games for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in the AHL this season, the time has come for Sprong to break out. After all, the Penguins do feature some decent playmakers to dish him the puck.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, my total dark horse\u00a0Sami Niku. Based on nothing more than a hunch and an incredible rookie season in the AHL, Niku could surprise a lot of people should he be put in a position to succeed by the Winnipeg Jets.<\/p>\n

Who are your favorites to take home the 2019 Calder Memorial Trophy? Let\u2019s hear it.<\/p>\n

@TheAlphaFuryan<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hampus Duvefelt<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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hampus_duvefelt@live.se<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

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CALDER CANDIDATES. Could Elias Pettersson, Rasmus Dahlin, Eeli Tolvanen or Vitali Abramov be in the Calder conversation a year from now? Photos: Bildbyr\u00e5n The Calder Memorial Trophy of 2018 hasn\u2019t even been handed out yet and still you want us to take a look at next year\u2019s candidates? Really? Fair enough then, let\u2019s have at … <\/p>\n

Read more “The next batch \u2013 rookies that could rule the NHL in 2019”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}