How About Awarding 'The Wayne Gretzky Trophy' To The Best Under-20 Rookie?

Eligibility for the Calder Trophy is open to first-year players who are no older than 26 years old by Sept. 15 of their season of eligibility. That means that there could be up to an eight-year difference in age between players vying for the award.

Take this season, for example. Dustin Wolf is a 23-year-old who had 18 games of NHL experience and 141 games in the American League going into this season. How are 19-year-old Matvei Michkov and 18-year-old Macklin Celebrini supposed to compete with that?

The answer could lie in what I'd like to call 'The Wayne Gretzky Trophy', which would honor the best NHL rookie who started the season as a teenager. Sometimes, such as last year when an 18-year-old Connor Bedard won the trophy, it would go to the same guy. But most years, it would allow one award for a 20-something player and another for a teenager.

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