Top 10 NHL Rookies...

[danaluvsthekings]

If Staal had Cammalleri and Frolov as linemates, he'd have a lot more assists. I hope you aren't under the mistaken impression that Staal has played all year with Malkin or Crosby.

Kopitar doesn't have Cammalleri and Frolov as linemates though on a regular basis. They play with Derek Armstrong.

 

[Beauty eh?]

This thread his homeriffic.

 

[Herby]

Staal is not second this year, I would put him third behind Kopitar. Long term is different than this year and though what Staal is doing is amazing part of what is amazing is that he is doing it at eighteen and one of the youngest players ever to lace them up in the NHL. Long term I do not think that Staal takes a back seat to Kopitar but that depends on his taking anticipated spurts in growth, both physically and in his hockey skills. Similar to what Crosby did as far as growing between 18 and 19. For this year Kopitar is ahead.

For those putting Kopitar ahead of Malkin.

Malkin is currently 15th in the entire NHL in scoring. That is not the be all and end all, but Malkin albeit with lapses the irk me at times, shows that he is the complete package night in and night out. Kopitar has not even cracked the top 50 in scoring.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/stats/byposition?pos=C,RW,LW

Just curious why age is a factor in Kopitar vs. Staal, but you seem to disregard it in Kopitar vs. Malkin.

you do realize that Kopitar is a full year and change younger than Malkin.

 

[Fan-of-#9]

Holy Homers! Colaicovo doesn't deserve Top 10 mention ahead of Nate Paetsch, let alone the others that have been mentioned. Cola has been overrated for an eternity.

 

[King'sPawn]

I guess I'm the only one who's more impressed with Staal and Kopitar's overall play this year ahead of Malkin?

 

[Brandinho]

Kopitar doesn't have Cammalleri and Frolov as linemates though on a regular basis. They play with Derek Armstrong.

Who are Kopitar's regular linemates? For a large part of the year, Staal played on the fourth line and he's only recently begun to get any PP time whatsoever. Only 4 of his 26 goals are with the man advantage, compared to 6 short-handed.

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Coliacovo's a rookie?

Seems like he's been the Leafs best defensive prospect since the eighties.

 

[Freaky Habs Fan]

Carlo Colaiacovo (for staying fearly healty)
Ian White (for his outlet passes)
Guillaume Latendresse (he's good along the board)
Mikail Grabovski (for his speed)
Jaroslav Halak (for being the #1 in Montreal during the absence of Huet)


There's now way we can add any homer pick on that list...there's around 12 players that we can have in consideration...

Evgeny Malkin
Paul Stastny
Anze Kopitar
Jordan Staal
________________

Marc Vlasic
Wojtek Wolski
Travis Zajac
Dustin Penner
Anlex Radulov
Matt Carle
Ryan Clowe
Joe Pavelski

 

[King'sPawn]

Who are Kopitar's regular linemates? For a large part of the year, Staal played on the fourth line and he's only recently begun to get any PP time whatsoever. Only 4 of his 26 goals are with the man advantage, compared to 6 short-handed.

Kopitar's played with almost everybody, including shifts with Frolov and Cammalleri. Since Frolov and Cammalleri have the best chemistry with Derek Armstrong, our 2nd best center, they play with him most often though.

But Kopitar's played with Brown and O'Sullivan most often, although he's also played with Thornton, Willsie, Ivanans, Cowan (when he was on the Kings), Kostopoulos.

The only players I CAN'T remember skating a shift with Kopitar are Conroy, Armstrong, McAuley, Lundmark

But I love Staal. I think long he'll be much more valuable to the Pens organization than Malkin in the long run.

 

[triggrman]

Shea Weber isnt considered a rookie this year? Dont see him on any lists, I guess not....

No he played in 27 games last season.

 

[CaliCash]

Staal > Kopitar

No way!!! Kopitar is way better then Staal! He's piling up points while on a Kings team that doesn’t have the support or the skill that Pittsburgh does!

 

[RightKinger]

If Staal had Cammalleri and Frolov as linemates, he'd have a lot more assists. I hope you aren't under the mistaken impression that Staal has played all year with Malkin or Crosby.

If Kopitar had Malkin or Crosby as linemates, he'd have a lot more goals. I hope you aren't under the mistaken impression that Kopitar has played all year with Cammalleri or Frolov.

Kopitar plays with O'Sullivan (3 goals) and Brown (11 goals) as his wingers. O'Sullivan looks lost on most nights and Brown is more worried about hitting than he is about goal scoring. He has also played with Kostopoulos, Ivanans, Thornton, Avery, and Willsie. Cammalleri and Frolov play on a line with Derek Armstrong because they have good chemistry together.

 

[mapletoft]

Has everyone forgotten about Ladislav Smid of the Oilers? Could easily be the best rookie defenseman this year!

 

[Rand]

Colaiacovo deserves some mention.

White's has a better rookie season IMO and at a younger age. I have White as just outside the top 10, but I don't see Cola as being particularly close to him.

 

[Playa Hamm*]

1. Vlasic
2. Malkin
3. Kopitar
4. Stastny
5. Staal
6. Penner
7. Wolski
8. Smid
9. Zajac
10. Radulov

HM: Matt Carle

 

[BigKahuna*]

No love for Pavelski?

He's been better then Zajac (almost as many points in nearly half the games).

 

[Randall Graves*]

Who are Kopitar's regular linemates? For a large part of the year, Staal played on the fourth line and he's only recently begun to get any PP time whatsoever. Only 4 of his 26 goals are with the man advantage, compared to 6 short-handed.

Look at his last 15 or so goals, most of them are assisted by Crosby or Malkin(or both)

 

[Spawn]

Has everyone forgotten about Ladislav Smid of the Oilers? Could easily be the best rookie defenseman this year!

Not even close...

 

[ukyo]

I think a lot of people are complaining because the rookie crop this season is so good. IMO outside of the top 4 you could have another 10-15 kids in interchangeable order on the list.

Malkin
...
Kopitar
Stastny
Staal
...
Vlasic (the best rookie defenseman this season by far)
Penner
Zajac (severely underrated due to stats)
Wolski
Radulov (would be higher given more playing time)
Carle (stretch of crappy D knocked him down a few notches)

Lots of honorable mentions:
Latendresse
Pavelski
Clowe
Smid
White
Kukkonen (if he counts)

 

[Brandinho]

If Kopitar had Malkin or Crosby as linemates, he'd have a lot more goals. I hope you aren't under the mistaken impression that Kopitar has played all year with Cammalleri or Frolov.

Kopitar plays with O'Sullivan (3 goals) and Brown (11 goals) as his wingers. O'Sullivan looks lost on most nights and Brown is more worried about hitting than he is about goal scoring. He has also played with Kostopoulos, Ivanans, Thornton, Avery, and Willsie. Cammalleri and Frolov play on a line with Derek Armstrong because they have good chemistry together.

You really can not direct that argument back at me so don't even try. Staal does not play with Malkin and Crosby as his linemates on anything resembling a regular basis. Occasionally he'll skate as a winger on Malkin's line or play with one or both of those guys on the PP, but he's played far more often on the bottom lines.

 

[Brandinho]

Look at his last 15 or so goals, most of them are assisted by Crosby or Malkin(or both)

That's not quite true.

I did an anlysis of Staal's goals. While it's true that Malkin has the most assists (11), that's still less than half of Staal's 26 goals. The part that isn't true is about Crosby who has only assisted on 3 of Staal's goals. With very few exceptions, the only time Crosby and Staal are on the ice together is during PP's and I've already established that Staal doesn't log a ton of PP time.

Here's the breakdown in descending order:

Malkin 11
Ouellet 8
Recchi 4
Crosby 3
Ekman 2
Gonchar 2
Whitney 2
Christensen 2
Malone 1
Moore 1
Nasreddine 1
Melichar 1
Scuderi 1

In addition, 4 of Staal's goals are unassisted.

 

[Los Tiburones]

If I were ranking just the big 4 Sharks rookies I would go with:

Vlasic
Pavelski
Clowe
Carle

Not necessarily in terms of long-term potential but in terms of play this year.

 

[hab]

Want a pacifier?

would you get Calaiacovo to sign it

 

[Dr Pepper]

No love for Mike Smith? I'd say at LEAST one of the (if not THE) best rookie goalies this season, aside from Minny's duo.

 

[Bam Beet*]

Evgeni Malkin

Paul Stastny
Anze Kopitar

Jordan Staal
Wojtek Wolski
M.E. Vlasic

Dustin Penner
Matt Carle

This is how I see them.