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Johnny Gaudreau makes Calder Trophy a three-rook race

Josh Cooper
Johnny Gaudreau makes Calder Trophy a three-rook race

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of the seemingly over Calder Trophy race, Johnny Gaudreau vaulted himself back into contention for the award that appeared all but locked to go to Nashville’s Filip Forsberg or Florida’s Aaron Ekblad.

With two goals in a win over Anaheim on Wednesday, Gaudreau has six points in his last five games, and sits just three behind Forsberg, the one-time runaway clear-cut forward favorite who has gone cold with 53 points. Since Feb. 21, Forsberg has just two points.

His point per-game pace has slowed considerably. Since Ekblad is a defenseman, he’s judged differently. And to any standard – rookie or veteran – he has been superb with 34 points in 66 games while averaging 22:19.

Both Ekblad and Forsberg were considered the top two all year. But Gaudreau’s hot streak – which has interestingly been almost completely synced up with Mark Giordano’s injury – has vaulted him into the conversation.

Here’s a fun fact: All three played in the NHL All-Star Game this year.

This year’s Calder race feels different than past years – mostly because all three rooks play important roles on each of their teams. Ekblad is one of Florida’s top defenseman. Forsberg and Gaudreau play on Nashville’s and Calgary’s top line. Also, all three sort of carry themselves like vets, though Gaudreau still looks like he’s in high school.

Since Gaudreau has made this a three horse race, we decided to re-examine the best shot for the NHL’s top rookie.

EKBLAD

Yay: A manchild defenseman doesn’t come around this often at age 18. Remember all those concerns that blueliners take longer to develop? Ha! He’s playing big minutes and continues to stay consistently solid. His shot attempts relative percentage per the NHL’s enhanced stats site is at a positive 2.5 percent, which ranks first amongst rookie blueliners who have played over 60 games.

Nay: Though Ekblad has played a lot of minutes, they’re not tough minutes. According to Behind the Net, He ranks low on Florida’s quality of competition rung. Also, per that site, he starts in the offensive zone 59.6 percent of the time.

FORSBERG

Yay: He still leads all rookies in scoring, and he is arguably Nashville’s most valuable player at forward. He has fewer points than Mike Ribeiro, but Forsberg has been Nashville’s most dynamic player offensively. If you want to use the enhanced stat argument, he has been the tops amongst the three in puck possession with an SAT rel% of 4.9.

Nay: He hasn’t quite held the same consistency as Gaudreau or Ekblad. This recent cold streak has been a crusher for Forsberg. Also, when his team has faltered or suffered an injury, he hasn’t quite stepped it up like Gaudreau.

GAUDREAU

Yay: Outside of Giordano and arguably Jiri Hudler, name a more important Flame to Calgary’s success. Johnny Hockey has been a revelation. And just like the Flames, when you think he’s going to slow down, he picks it up.

Nay: Like the Flames, he’s an advanced stat outlier. His total SAT on the year is a minus-140. Also, his 5-foot-9 size limits him in some situations.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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