Awards -- The Calder Trophy

Since this week is awards week, we take a hiatus (what do you call what you’ve been doing lately, Peerless?) from the end-of-year review to look at another award…

"The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season."

This year’s finalists are:

Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals

Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

This is a hard one. These guys change places, depending on what statistic you’re looking at (and when they’re not tied amongst themselves), more often than NASCAR drivers drafting one another at Darlington.

Points…
Goals…

Assists…

Plus/Minus…
Power play scoring…

Game-winners…
Overtime goals…
For us, the selection turns on the two words, “most proficient.” Accuse us of splitting hairs, if you will, but Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines “proficient” as:

“Well advanced in any branch of knowledge or skill; possessed of considerable acquirements; well-skilled; versed; adept.”

It’s fair to say that all of these players are “proficient,” if somewhat different in style. Backstrom, once he was installed on the top line in Washington, adopted the role of a traditional playmaker. Some will argue that having Alex Ovechkin on his left side made Backstrom’s job a lot easier. There would be some merit in that. As we noted in our look at Backstrom’s season…

“One could argue that [his assist production] was a product of playing with Ovechkin. In fact, of those eight assists Backstrom had in his first 20 games, only one (a secondary assist) came on a goal scored by Ovechkin. In his last 61 games, over which he had 47 assists, Backstrom had 20 assists on Ovechkin goals (12 primary, 8 secondary). But Backstrom found a way to get involved with the big scorers in general. He had nine assists on goals by Viktor Kozlov (three primary, five secondary) and eight more on goals by Alexander Semin (four of each type). That’s 37 of 47 assists in his last 61 games to three of the top five goal scorers on the team. There is a certain chicken-and-the-egg aspect to this – were the goals scored because of Backstrom’s contributions, or were Backstrom’s assists a product of good finishers. Well, probably both, but Backstrom’s production improved in that aspect of the game for which he is most heralded. Caps fans should be rather pleased with the result.”

But Backstrom’s effect might be told in the two-year lament regarding Ovechkin – if he had a true playmaking center…

The fact is, Backstrom – as a rookie – was a considerable improvement as a playmaking center over Dainius Zubrus and the supporting cast that manned the pivot on the top line when Zubrus wasn’t there. Ovechkin turned from a 50-goal scoring phenom into a 65-goal scoring monster. And in the meantime, Backstrom represented himself well in other aspects of the game, most notably his plus-13 for the year, including +16 in his last 20 games.

Kane presents a different set of credentials. He started strong (13 points in his first ten games) and finished strong (13 points in his last dozen games). However, he was very consistent in between, averaging eight points per ten games in those middle 60 games. It is also worth noting that four of his last eight goals were game winners.

For someone as slightly built as Kane (listed at 5’10”, 163 pounds), he was – as noted – remarkably consistent over the six month grind of an NHL season and played in all 82 games, averaging more than 18 minutes a night (fifth among Chicago forwards). He also led his club in assists and total scoring, was tied for second in both power play and game-winning goals, and was second on the team in total shifts taken. He was – as a rookie – the go-to player on offense for the Blackhawks. What might stand improvement is what a lot of rookies must deal with, and that is being as solid in his own end as in the offensive end. He was tied for next-to-last on the club in plus-minus on a club where 15 players were on the plus side of the ledger.

Toews presents another set of credentials – and a different problem. First, the problem. He missed 16 full games from January 1^st to February 10^th. When he went on the shelf, he was 15-17-32, +5 through 36 games. While his numbers slumped ever so slightly upon his return (9-13-22, +6, in 28 games), he ended the season having scored at a rate comparable to Kane – his 64-game totals work out to a 31-38-69, +14. And, even having played only 64 games, only two rookie centers took more draws (Martin Hanzal and Brandon Dubinsky). Only two rookie centers had a better winning percentage on draws than did Toews (David Steckel and Kamil Kreps – among rookies taking more than 500 draws). Toews’ plus-11 was sixth on the Blackhawks.

What we can’t get past with respect to Toews, though, is the effect of his absence. Chicago was 5-10-2 in the 17 games he missed (including the January 1^st game, in which he played only 3:25 before leaving with the injured knee). That stretch might have cost the Blackhawks a playoff spot , having finished three points out of the top-eight in the West.

There is no comparable measure in looking at Backstrom or Kane, since both played in all 82 games. But, by the same token, the award is for proficiency. We do not think that absence due to injury should be a disqualifying element in the same fashion it might for the Hart (if one thinks that a player needs to be available to be valuable). There is no clear winner here; all of the finalists can stake a claim to the award. But merely in terms of proficiency in all aspects, if we had a vote, it would go to…

Jonathan Toews