Mr Viral
The race for the Calder Trophy – as many predicted even before the season started – is exciting at the moment.
Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov, and Lane Hutson are in a fierce battle, and after 40 games, ESPN has published a survey conducted with several journalists to determine who is the favorite right now.
Celebrini leads the race, Michkov is in 2nd place… And in the article, it is noted that Lane Hutson is the clear 3rd choice at present:
New NHL Awards Watch!
The actual awards voters share their ballots with us, and the races for MVP, best defenseman and rookie of the year have heated up! (Coach of the year, on the other hand, is a romp.)
Read it all here: https://t.co/k66i8E7pP3
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 7, 2025
However, Hutson leads NHL rookies in points accumulated (30) since the beginning of the season.
It’s true that Celebrini has had to miss some games… But the fact that Lane Hutson plays as a defenseman adds even more significance to his candidacy.
His production is truly impressive:
Lane Hutson is a defenseman… pic.twitter.com/VUvJLaQtDG
— NHL (@NHL) January 7, 2025
But in Montreal, it’s not just Hutson who is impressive among the team’s rookies.
Emil Heineman has been rolling at a fantastic pace for a few weeks now, and ultimately, I feel that not enough is being said about him.
Because in fact, since a month ago (December 7), Heineman is 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 plus-minus (+6) of all rookies since that time.
When compared to Michkov (-10), for instance, it’s like day and night:
(Credit: NHL.com)
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, recalling all this allows us to realize how well Heineman has been doing lately… Especially since he plays on the team’s 4th line and is often one of the least utilized forwards by Martin St-Louis.
It’s worth mentioning because for the past month, it’s been nearly impossible to blame him for anything in his game.
In the end, seeing two Canadiens rookies performing this way is interesting because it makes us believe that there is a bright future offensively in Montreal.
And this is without mentioning Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage, who will arrive in the next two years and have a good chance of playing in the top-6 one day.
That’s why we often say you have to be patient during a rebuild.
In Brief
– I can’t wait to see that.
I’m watching videos of Vrioni on @YouTubeTV and you can see that the guy knows how to score goals and play in a one-forward system.
Same date last year, I was watching videos of the most beautiful goals by Coccaro and I was thinking: is this a top forward?… https://t.co/Gty0e2kvIP
— Maxime Truman (@MaximeTruman) January 7, 2025
– Indeed.
For Canadiens fans clamoring for the team to trade Mike Matheson I suggest they watch a replay of last night’s game very closely. Matheson was outstanding, along with his defense partner Lane Hutson. #Habs #HabsIO
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) January 7, 2025
– The guys are confident and it shows.
“We got no quit in this team right now. There’s so much confidence throughout the whole group. Everyone’s feeling good. It’s an absolute blast to win. We’re getting that feeling of what it’s like now that we’ve won a few…I think everyone’s just hungry right now.”
– Kaiden Guhle pic.twitter.com/vmDmshjvvL
— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) January 7, 2025
– It says a lot…
With at least $100 million apart in negotiations, the Blue Jays have no more room to maneuver. https://t.co/iWVBJWOjXM
— Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) January 7, 2025
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