Rookie of the Year ?

[bigd19 0]

Which rookie will win the award

[kovalchuk71 212]

How would we know if we havent even seen their first game?

[TBLfan 25]

Malkin! lol

a bit early to try to make the call don't you think?

[kosydar 0]

How would we know if we havent even seen their first game?

Let alone know which rookies are going to actually make their teams.

[McCabe24 0]

Backstrom from Washington

[shute 4]

malkin for sure... the guy is already a superstar in russia..

[trucks 0]

if the talk surrounding malkin is any indication of how good he is he should win hands down. i think he will even beat ovechkins production this year if he plays on a line with crosby.

[TBLfan 25]

if the pens can get him to the states. Last I heard they wanted 97854327593259jhtmn2923 million to get him out of his contract.

[McCabe24 0]

Is it just me or does Malkin seem uncoordinated on the ice? I haven't seen him play in the Russian League so I can't comment on that but he seems to get by on his size in junior tournaments. However, his lack of skating ability prevents him from totally dominating. I really doubt he will have the success of Ovechkin, most of it seems to be hype.

[Dougie8 0]

I've seen malkin play in the World Juniors live, he is around 6'3 yes, and he is a very good hockey player. He is a different style of player than Ovechkin, not all dangles and really nice goals, but he will also set up really nice goals.

[Adam91 0]

Whitney is becoming one very fast.

I'm going to take a darkhorse as my Calder prediction - Nigel Dawes, that is if he makes the Rangers, he has scored at every level including the AHL so I don't see why he wouldn't have farly good sucess in his rookie season.

I'm not sure if Malkin will be as pro physical player as Oveckin is. Malkin looks like a bean pole

[zingbergeur 0]

I'd like to see Alexander Radulov crack the Nashville lineup and win the Calder, but I can't honestly say I think he will.

[jeffw 1]

Malkin reminds me of Mario when he skates. Not that I'm comapring him to Lemieux, just that his long lanky stride reminds me of Mario. Here's a pretty sweet compilation if you haven't seen it.

[Jim A 4]

need to see who winds up playing with who... a kid like Bobby Ryan could all of a sudden be on a top notch ANA team without a lot of vets, if he rides the bike all the way to ANA this year instead of back to Owen Sound (Brian Burke may wind up being the best thing for his career) but it will depend on if his skating has caught up to the new NHL..he wasn't that great @ WJC

actually are any of hte Ducks rooks eligible due to amount of games played?

[CardinalHcky19 0]

Malkin for sure that kid is absolutley outstanding

but then again so are some of the other rookies too

[warrior37 0]

i like that malkin video, he protects the puck with his size nicely, on a side note do you guys think erik johnson will ever lace them up at U of Minn for Don Lucia or go right to St Louis?

[Miike 1]

i like that malkin video, he protects the puck with his size nicely, on a side note do you guys think erik johnson will ever lace them up at U of Minn for Don Lucia or go right to St Louis?

I think Johnson has a great shot at cracking the Blues line-up first season. I'd compare him to a Dion Phaneuf.

As for the Calder race, again its to early to tell, Malkin may be bust when he comes over here. I don't know who will win, as you'll usually have to wait till you see who cracks which line-up etc..

[trucks 0]

and then again you could get a goalie like lundquist(sp?) from the rangers. some goalie whos a played a few years in the ahl and is a bit older and turns it on this season for a team with goaltending needs and carries them to the playoffs. with no clearcut choice except malkin maybe, theres really a wide open shot for any rookie who finds their game and is put in the right situation, ie. a weaker team where you get tons of ice and pp time.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I was thinking about a goalie, but there aren't any rumoured to start that I know of.

[BoMbA17 0]

and then again you could get a goalie like lundquist(sp?) from the rangers. some goalie whos a played a few years in the ahl and is a bit older and turns it on this season for a team with goaltending needs and carries them to the playoffs. with no clearcut choice except malkin maybe, theres really a wide open shot for any rookie who finds their game and is put in the right situation, ie. a weaker team where you get tons of ice and pp time.

lundqvist was the top goalie in the swedish league before making the transition to the NHL

[Hockeyman9621 0]

and then again you could get a goalie like lundquist(sp?) from the rangers. some goalie whos a played a few years in the ahl and is a bit older and turns it on this season for a team with goaltending needs and carries them to the playoffs. with no clearcut choice except malkin maybe, theres really a wide open shot for any rookie who finds their game and is put in the right situation, ie. a weaker team where you get tons of ice and pp time.

Lundqvist is very young. 23? And he never played in the AHL. Do some research before replying.

[Dougie8 0]

Whitney is becoming one very fast.

I'm going to take a darkhorse as my Calder prediction - Nigel Dawes, that is if he makes the Rangers, he has scored at every level including the AHL so I don't see why he wouldn't have farly good sucess in his rookie season.

I'm not sure if Malkin will be as pro physical player as Oveckin is. Malkin looks like a bean pole

Malkin has the size on Ovechkin, and I think he will grow into his height (fill out), When I watched him play he was laying guys out left and right, he seems to have an attitude, and when he gets mad....I wouldnt wanna get in his way. I think he might bring a bit of physical play, but I dont think he'll have to worry about that as much as putting up numbers.

[Adam91 0]

I was thinking about a goalie, but there aren't any rumoured to start that I know of.

Longshot but maybe Jimmy Howard?

I don't think Pascal Leclair qualifies?

Looks unlikely now that the Eagle looks like he might be landing in Detroit

[gp3r 0]

It's a longshot, but Malkin has a head start. It won't be like 05-06, where no one was the clear favorite. At the beginning of the season, some people said AO was gonna win it, and others said Crosby. For next year, pretty much all the experts agree that Malkin will be the one to watch, especially if he plays with Crosby.

For sure, as of now, I would pick Malkin to win the Calder. But there are many rookies that, if they can make their espective teams, could contend:

-Nick Backstrom, who'll most likely play on the same line as AO, that should help him get a few points, though Ovechkin isn't the type of player that will help teamates reach 100+ points. Not because he's selfish, but because of his style of play.

-Phil Kessel, as Pierre McGuire said on tsn, he's coming in angry with something to prove. And now that he could be playing with Marc Savard, who knows what he could do with the Bruins. And he sure won't be bullied around by bigger players, since there are no players in the league that want to deal with Chara.

-Guillaume Latendresse is coming in, here in Mtl, with a lot of hype. Maybe he can pull off a nice season.

-Jack Johnson could do very well with Carolina, he's coming in the league with a very good team.

The major difference from last year is, I think, that the rookies coming in are not expected to carry their teams on their back right away, unlike Corsby of Ovechkin. Eric Johnson won't be ready for at least a year or two, Malkin's not coming in as the no.1 franchise player. Backstrom's coming in behind AO, so people will expect him to support AO, not to do better than him. The expectations for the next rookies won't be as high as last year.

Question: Who's gonna play with who next year in Pittsburgh: is Malkin gonna join Crosby's line, or will it be Stall.

Personnaly, I can see something like that for the first two lines:

Staal(I think they will make him play the wing)-Crosby-Ouellet

Leclair-Malkin-Malone

What a great franchise this is going to be!!

[McCabe24 0]

Colby Armstrong will play with Crosby again. I still think Staal is overrated and belongs back in junior for another year before the AHL while Ouellet was favoured by Therian because of his time in the minors. You can't take away from the fact that they have had top picks for the past 5 years but it takes more to win. Where are the players from the early second and third rounds? The only one I can think of is Malone and they didn't even want to pick him when they did.