Who are the rookie of the year candidates in the AHL this year?

I don't keep up with the AHL much and was just wondering if anyone knows who the leading candidates would be for the AHL Rookie of the Year this year, at this point in the season.

 

Kyle Wellwood, Carlo Colaiacovo and Derek Roy have all been great so far.

Andy Chiodo has been strong in the nets for Wilkes-Barre as well.

 

Aaron Johnson?

The CBJ 3rd round Defenseman selected in 2001. This is his first pro season. He was just selected to the AHL all-star team... I dont think he would a front runner, but if he continues to impress, could he be in the running?

29 GP 4G 10A 14 PTS(good for 4th in D-man scoring)

He has played 5-10 less games than most of other players. Has had a couple short call-ups.

 

I know I'm going to get flamed badly for this but:

Mika Hannula

The guy is a high-energy player for the Aeros, and while not putting up a lot of numbers has done a lot of things right for him. He was a low-level pick 7th or 8th rounder but is currently beating MATT FOY in the point production for the Aeros.

 

Michel Ouellet has been real good for the baby Pens too, it seems. 18 goals in 36 games.

 

Yep Ouellet has been scoring at an impressive rate, but only on the WB team, I'd rank Chiodo over him in the rookie department.
He has amazing stats : 2.02, 0.924 SV% and he's the only goalie in WB with a winning record (10-6-1-2).

 

Unfortunately for Chiodo, he's got to play second fiddle to an Islanders goaltender once again...

Wade Dubielewicz is the top goaltender in the league in his first season, has a 1.26 GAA, .949 save %, and was selected as the starting goaltender for Canada in the AHL All-Star Game.

 

He's tied for 20th in rookie points.

Why would you even mention his name?

 

Garret Stafford gets my vote. 21 points in 30 games from the blueline. For a while, he was a points per game player, although he's cooled off a bit.

 

I doubt Roy ever plays another AHL game this season though.

 

Where is the love for Kari Lehtonen? Not a single mention?

Lehtonen has a .929 Save Percentage and is tied for Wins in the AHL, with 13.

 

hmm...could it be his 2.33 GAA?

I think if Dubielewicz can keep up his current stats for the rest of the season, he'll be very hard to beat.

 

GAA are a product of Shots on Goals allowed. Save Percentage is the only thing a goalie can fully control, not GAA. The Chicago Wolves don't have very good defenseman, and are close to leading the AHL in Shots on Goals allowed.

Lehtonen can't prevent those shots from coming at him.

I agree that Dubielewicz is doing better now but he has only been in goal 15 times so far. Lets see how he does with more games under his belt.

Right now, I don't think Lehtonen would win it but he certainly deserves mention in the race. I think at the end of the year he could end up being the winner.

 

Hmmm?

What?
Save percentage is the stat the goalie has full control on?
I strongly disagree.
A goalie that faces low percentage shots thanks to a good D has a very good save %. On the other hand, a goalie that faces 12 breakaways a game but not much else will have a low save percentage.
Does he have full control on that? Nope his D does.
Any goalie stat is partly due to team defense.

 

Evilo, agreed. You are right..goalies don't have control on how good the shots are either.

But I still stand by my assertion that GAA is not that great of a stat when evaluating a goalie's performance...at least, not compared to a better stat like Save Percentage. For example, Kari has seen an average of 31 shots on goal when he has played, compared to Dub facing 25 shots on goal per play. We can't judge the quality of those shots but as a gauge of their relative performance, I would look at save percentage over GAA.

 

For Hamilton Alex Perezhogin has been picking it up lately, although a long shot for rookie of the year for sure. Chirs Higgins has also been impressive, as he has been solid in all ends of the rink.

 

This has turned into a homer thread so I'll go ahead and cast my vote.. Kunitz of the baby Ducks is 2nd in rookie scoring and hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

Because I feel rookie of the year means more than just putting up points on the board, it is what the player gives to the game. Yeah he might be 20th for points but there's more than point in determining how good a player really is.

On that note, I agree that Wade looks sharp out of the Islanders...

 

Kari Lehtonen just won the fan's vote for goalies for the AHL All star game. That sort of surprises me.

http://www.canoe.ca/AHL/News/2004/01/08/307924.html

The American Hockey League announced today the PlanetUSA AHL All-Star team roster for the 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic, to be played next month at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The team, comprising players born in the United States and Europe, includes 21 skaters and three goaltenders. AHL fans determined the starting lineup via on-line balloting at theahl.com, while a committee of AHL coaches selected the remainder of the roster.

Twenty-two members of the PlanetUSA team have earned their first career AHL All-Star selections, including rookies Noah Clarke of Manchester, Aleksander Suglobov of Albany, Anton Babchuk of Norfolk, Fedor Tyutin of Hartford and Kari Lehtonen of Chicago. All told, 42 of the 48 players selected to head to Grand Rapids will be making their AHL All-Star debuts.

Grand Rapids defenseman Travis Richards will captain the PlanetUSA team, which will include only two players with previous AHL All-Star experience: Hamilton's Mike Komisarek (2003) and Providence's Matt Herr (2002, 2003).

Manchester, Hamilton and host Grand Rapids lead all teams with four selections apiece between the two All-Star squads, while Binghamton, Rochester and league-leading Bridgeport will each have three representatives at the event.

Bridgeport’s rookie head coach Greg Cronin will guide the PlanetUSA team, as his Sound Tigers will have the league’s best points percentage after play on Jan. 11. Cronin and his Canadian counterpart, Houston’s Todd McLellan, join a list of former AHL All-Star head coaches that includes current NHL bench bosses Peter Laviolette, Bob Hartley, John Tortorella and Barry Trotz.

Of the 295 players to take part in the AHL All-Star Classic since 1995, more than 91 percent have competed in the NHL, including Daniel Briere, Andrew Brunette, Anson Carter, Pavol Demitra, Rick DiPietro, J.P. Dumont, Mike Dunham, Patrik Elias, Rico Fata, Manny Legace, John Madden, Brendan Morrison, Ladislav Nagy, Vaclav Prospal, Dwayne Roloson, Martin St. Louis, Marc Savard, Jason Spezza, Steve Sullivan and Tomas Vokoun.

The 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic will take place at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., home of the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. The event gets underway on Sunday, February 8, with the 2004 AHL All-Star Skills Competition at 7:00 p.m. (ET). The annual All-Star Game follows at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Monday, February 9, and will be televised live in the United States and Canada.

2004 PLANETUSA AHL ALL-STAR TEAM

Forwards
x-Jozef Balej, Hamilton
Pavel Brendl, Lowell
Noah Clarke, Manchester
x-Jeff Hamilton, Bridgeport
Matt Herr, Providence
Jiri Hudler, Grand Rapids
Josh Langfeld, Binghamton
Tony Martensson, Cincinnati
Matt Murley, Wilkes-Barre
Tomas Plekanec, Hamilton
x-Pavel Rosa, Manchester
Aleksander Suglobov, Albany
Miroslav Zalesak, Cleveland


Defensemen
Anton Babchuk, Norfolk
Mike Komisarek, Hamilton
Niklas Kronwall, Grand Rapids
Jaroslav Obsut, Manitoba
x-Travis Richards, Grand Rapids ("C")
x-Dennis Seidenberg, Philadelphia
Fedor Tyutin, Hartford
Julian Vauclair, Binghamton


Goaltenders
x-Kari Lehtonen, Chicago
Ryan Miller, Rochester
Rastislav Stana, Portland


Head Coach: Greg Cronin – Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Assistant Coach: Dave Baseggio – Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Athletic Trainer: Rob Snitzer – Grand Rapids Griffins
Equipment Manager: Brad Thompson – Grand Rapids Griffins


x-Starters

2004 PLANETUSA AHL ALL-STAR TEAM STARTERS

Kari Lehtonen, Goaltender (Chicago Wolves): The highest-drafted European goaltender in NHL history (second overall in 2002), Kari Lehtonen came to North America after a stellar career in Finland that included leading Jokerit Helsinki to the league title in 2002. A bronze medalist at the 2003 World Junior Championships, the 20-year-old Lehtonen has posted a 13-9-1 record for Chicago this year while ranking among the AHL leaders with a .929 save percentage.

Travis Richards, Defense (Grand Rapids Griffins): Travis Richards was voted to the starting lineup for the PlanetUSA All-Stars after being appointed team captain by the AHL. A Griffin since the franchise’s inception in 1996-97, he has anchored a defense that ranked first in the league in each of the last two seasons. Richards played four years at the University of Minnesota and represented the United States at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Dennis Seidenberg, Defense (Philadelphia Phantoms): Dennis Seidenberg is in his second season in Philadelphia after three years with Adler Mannheim in his native Germany. The 22-year-old blueliner played in the NHL YoungStars game during All-Star Weekend in Sunrise, Fla., last year, and wound up with 13 points in 58 NHL games with the Flyers. A member of Germany’s team at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Seidenberg currently leads the Phantoms in plus/minus (+11) and defenseman scoring.

Jozef Balej, Forward (Hamilton Bulldogs): Jozef Balej followed up a 51-goal junior season in 2001-02 with just five goals a year ago, but the Slovakian winger is back with team-leading totals of 21 goals, 40 points and a plus-15 rating through 41 games with the Bulldogs. A third-round draft pick by Montreal in 2000, the speedy Balej has also recorded five game-winning scores for the North Division leaders, and posted a four-goal effort on Dec. 28 against St. John’s.

Jeff Hamilton, Forward (Bridgeport Sound Tigers): Jeff Hamilton was the offensive catalyst on the league-leading Sound Tigers before being sidelined by an eye injury on Jan. 3. He still leads the AHL with 25 goals, 13 power play markers, nine game-winners and 161 shots on goal, and has 14 multiple-point efforts to his credit, including five straight from Dec. 10-17. The former Yale University standout made his NHL debut with the N.Y. Islanders on Dec. 2 vs. Washington.

Pavel Rosa, Forward (Manchester Monarchs): Manchester’s most consistent producer over the past two seasons, Pavel Rosa has recorded 106 points in 99 games in a Monarchs uniform, and currently leads the AHL in scoring with 43 points this year. The Czech forward, who has taken only five minor penalties in 2003-04, has already put together scoring streaks of eight games and nine games this season. A second-round pick by Los Angeles in 1995, Rosa has appeared in 34 career NHL matches with the Kings.

 

Can't complain good picks there...

 

For Montreal, Jozef Balej has been dominating the AHL so far this season, after having a poor season last year (his first).
Tomas Plekanec is also doing well, that's why he has been called up and is currently playing with the Montreal Canadiens.

 

If they continue to play like they do, they're having great chances.

Sorry for Perezhogin and Higgins, but I always tought I'll always think Lethonen should be the rookie of the year. So I completely agree with you.

 

I forgot Kari Lehtonen was in the minors...*sighs* My head is elsewhere. I would agree that he should get the MVP...it might be a tight race though.

 

David LeNeveu made all-stars as well, so I think he deserves at least a mention for AHL ROY.

 

No mention of Hannu Toivonen!!

I also think Wellwood and Carlo are good candidates as well