Sunday, August 22, 2010

One Trophy That Has Elluded Oilers Hands, Could This Be The Year?


The Dynasty Oilers won all kinds of trophies, whether in the regular season or post season, they had their names all over trophies in the eighties. But one trophy has eluded the Oil drop, the trophy that goes to the top rookie in the league, the Calder trophy.

The Oilers arguably have four candidates (Hall, Paajarvi-Svensson, Eberle, and Omark) that could make a run at the Calder. While the first three on that list seem to be the favorites to do the most damage at the NHL level, Omark cannot be completely discounted at this point because of his skill level and his pro experience.

Could the Oilers somehow have a pair of Calder finalists? Perhaps a trio of finalists? I could not find a list of all of the Calder Finalists over the years just the winners, so I cannot say that it would be unprecedented in all certainty, but I only recall of hearing of a pair of teammates being finalists in the same year. The last time that I recall teammates being finalists was in '06-07 when Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal finished first and third respectively.

Of course there will always be a few surprise rookies that step in and take the league by storm, or some guys that have a bit more seasoning under their belts making their transition to the NHL a little more seamless. Guys like Pietrangelo and Subban could step in and rack up the points much like Tyler Myers did last year en-route to his Calder trophy season. Guys like Tyler Seguin, Nazem Kadri, Cody Hodgson, Brayden Schenn, or Oliver Ekman-Larsson could come out with a huge season.

Then there's always the sleepers that catch you off guard, a guy like Jimmy Howard last season. It really is a tough call, but you'd have to like the Oilers odds considering they have not one, not two, but three top tier prospects looking to break the Oilers Calder drought.

Hopefully some friendly competition between the three of them and Omark can see one of them hoisting the Calder next season, because it would be the only thing that an Oiler would hoist for at least a few more years.

4 comments:

Racki said...

Man, that is one trophy I've always coveted. I hope that one of our young players can win it this year. I am not sure if Omark qualifies though, since he's played in the SEL, but if he does, I think he could be a good bet if he actually gets the ice time.

Ohhh all excited about this season again. :)

Racki said...

P.S. your top 10 oilers prospects seems to be lacking Taylor Hall. :P

Bryanbryoil said...

I'm waiting until camp so that I can see the likes of Pitlick and co. before making a new list. I think that that Hall guy could very well be top dog though :)

Racki said...

Yah, I've heard that he is a good player or something... :P