The race for the Calder Trophy – as many predicted before the season even started – is exciting right now.
Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov and Lane Hutson are at the height of the fight and after 40 matches, the ESPN network wanted to publish a poll carried out among several journalists to determine who is the favorite at the moment.
Celebrini leads the race, Michkov comes in 2nd… And in the article, we read that Lane Hutson is the obvious 3rd choice at the moment:
However, Hutson leads NHL rookies in points accumulated (30) since the start of the season.
It’s true that Celebrini had to miss matches… But the fact that Lane Hutson is playing as a defender adds even more importance to his candidacy.
His production is truly impressive:
But in Montreal, it’s not just Hutson who impresses among the team’s rookies.
Emil Heineman has been riding at a superb pace for several weeks and ultimately, I think we don’t talk about him enough.
Because in fact, for a month (December 7), Heineman has been the 3rd best scorer in the league among rookies.
He has better production than Matvei Michkov in this regard… And Heineman also has the best differential (+6) of all rookies since that time.
If we compare with Michkov (-10), for example, it’s day and night:
Matvei Michkov is an excellent hockey player.
He has the qualities to become a star in the NHL and he is doing well in his first season in the National League.
That said, remembering all of this makes you realize how much good times Heineman has had lately… While he plays on the team’s 4th line and is often one of the least used attackers by Martin St-Louis.
It is relevant to talk about it because for the past month, it has been almost impossible to criticize him for anything in his game.
In the end, seeing two Canadiens rookies perform in this way is interesting because we can believe that there is a bright future at the offensive level in Montreal.
And that’s without mentioning Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage, who will arrive in the next two years and who have a chance of playing in the top-6 one day.
This is why we often say that we must be patient during reconstruction.
In burst
– I can’t wait to see this.
– Effectively.
– The guys are confident and it shows.
– That says a lot…
