caveman
03-24-2011, 09:38 AM
Well, the regular season is entering its last weeks. For the first time in a good while, the Canes have a genuine Calder Trophy candidate in Jeff Skinner. Couture and Grabner are mentioned as well, but I've been watching the goalies: Corey Crawford, Bobrovsky, and Neuvirth have been as good a trio of rookie goaltenders as I remember in a while. I'm not completely sold on any of the defensemen as top candidates here, though Carlson makes the best case IMHO (Fowler's a -24...) with Subban and Shattenkirk rounding that out I suppose. The last weeks offer all of these players a chance to separate themselves from the pack, and I hope it's Skinner breaking through that late-season rookie wall to do so. I'll admit to not having a good feel for the defensive forwards and defensive defensemen who are rookies this year, any of those worth looking at? A recent article (http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2011/3/21/2063471/calder-trophy-race-nhl-rookie-year) might job memories a little better, while arguing that Grabner's had the least amount of help linemate wise. One of the comments there points out that Grabner is the most impressive at even strength, with Couture and Skinner picking up significant goals and points on the power play, where Grabner (inexplicably?) doesn't have as much time.