2023-24 Calder Memorial Trophy finalists: Connor Bedard, Brock Faber, Luke Hughes

[My3Sons]

Kotchetkov should have been a nominee and arguably winner. He was one of the better starting goaltenders in the league this season, probably top 20-15 in his position. He carried the goaltending load hard with Anderson out the majority of the season, the other backups were horrendous and bottom of the league statistically. (Raanta had the worst sv% of goalies that played at least 20 games)

stats (min 20 games)
-16th in sv% (0.911)
-8th in SO (4)
-37th in goals saved above expected per 60
-12th in high danger unblocked shot attempt sv%
-5th in xhigh danger unblocked shot attempt sv% (x is expected)

Didn't Kotchetkov get off to a slow start? He ultimately had a very good season but it was quiet. He probably was penalized in some sense because Carolina plays so well in front of him. While the save percentage and shutouts are probably part of the equation, I'm skeptical that the voters look closely at the advanced stats. It's a similar handicap suffered by Faber. Ultimately, this award is not a referendum on the future of any of these players. Kotchetkov will have his chance to shine probably starting next playoff series.

 

[Oak]

Faber had a great season but hard not to pick Bedard. Kid really impressed me especially the way he came back from the broken jaw.

Luke should not have been nominated imo. I'd rather see Cooley up there.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Pure comedy. Notice you’ve provided exactly zero supporting evidence of any kind, just incessant general whining. He more than held his own defensively at even strength as a rookie defenseman, as attested by him being a -4 on a team with a -17 even strength goal differential while playing 21:30 a night.

You crying about him because he’s a Devil and trying to wishcast a reality that doesn’t exist won’t make it true.

Little brother syndrome, it’s so sad.

 

[Xirik]

Pure comedy. Notice you’ve provided exactly zero supporting evidence of any kind, just incessant general whining. He more than held his own defensively at even strength as a rookie defenseman, as attested by him being a -4 on a team with a -17 even strength goal differential while playing 21:30 a night.

You crying about him because he’s a Devil and trying to wishcast a reality that doesn’t exist won’t make it true.

Devils just live Rent free in Crypto's head.

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Faber had a great season but hard not to pick Bedard. Kid really impressed me especially the way he came back from the broken jaw.

Luke should not have been nominated imo. I'd rather see Cooley up there.

Cooley put up 3 less points than Hughes did and Hughes is a defenceman.
Hughes absolutely deserves this nomination he's finishing in 3rd place but he deserves to be there.

Pure comedy. Notice you’ve provided exactly zero supporting evidence of any kind, just incessant general whining. He more than held his own defensively at even strength as a rookie defenseman, as attested by him being a -4 on a team with a -17 even strength goal differential while playing 21:30 a night.

You crying about him because he’s a Devil and trying to wishcast a reality that doesn’t exist won’t make it true.

Why bother responding to him? Every Devil fan knows his shtick.

 

[Xirik]

I don't know what other players numbers regarding empty net goals are, but isn't that a wild stat? Being on the ice for 22 ENG in a single season? That seems like a lot for a team to give up in a year no?

Oh, there it is. The Devils gave up the most this year by a decent margin. Did they pull their goalie earlier than most teams or just one of those years where it's an outlier?

By the way, not a knock on Hughes at all. I haven't seen him play a game so I have no knowledge of his defensive acumen in the slightest.

The reason he is put out when the net is empty is that he's a good playmaker and his speed enables him to catch up to pucks lobbed from the other end of the ice towards the empty net, He's definitely saved a couple.

Overall his defense isn't terrible, He just like many other players of his ilk get caught in the offensive zone sometimes and it ends up costly. The other bad thing he and his brother do sometimes is they act like Harlem globetrotters but then get the puck stolen from them, Probably would have been less of a problem if Jack didn't have a bum shoulder for half of the season.

Finally like almost all rookies he hit a wall later in the season and struggled to get over it.

 

[TLEH]

Scoring is up, that doesn't mean the Hawks scoring was up. Go look at MacKinnon's stats on the 2016-2017 Avs, if your team doesn't score, you don't score. The rest of the league doesn't matter.

 

[ColbyChaos]

Some are throwing shade at Faber because his offensive production dipped during the last month of the season even though he was playing with 2 broken ribs.

Unlike Bedard, he toughed it out because his team needed him.

Bedard had a broken jaw and likely lost a ton of weight as the season wore on as an actual rookie

It’s a lot easier to be good on the Wild who were always seen as a bubble playoff team with their group vs Chicago who’s one other good forward was out for the season after 7 games lol

Hawks were lucky to even get a goal in the stretch Bedard was out the teams are not comparable Bedard did more with less

 

[ColbyChaos]

Bedard is a generational forward who plays in an inflated scoring era. He should score more than a rookie defenseman who prioritizes defense while also playing on a mediocre team.

Wild was almost a playoff team imagine comparing playing with Kaprizov, Rossi, Boldy, Brodin, etc

To Kurashev, Taylor Hall for 7 games, Nick Foligno and Joey Anderson

 

[CallMeShaft]

Possibly 2 months of broken ribs, but I've never had them so I can't really comment on whatever limitations they might bring.

Some doctor you are

 

[SmytheKing]

The reason he is put out when the net is empty is that he's a good playmaker and his speed enables him to catch up to pucks lobbed from the other end of the ice towards the empty net, He's definitely saved a couple.

Overall his defense isn't terrible, He just like many other players of his ilk get caught in the offensive zone sometimes and it ends up costly. The other bad thing he and his brother do sometimes is they act like Harlem globetrotters but then get the puck stolen from them, Probably would have been less of a problem if Jack didn't have a bum shoulder for half of the season.

Finally like almost all rookies he hit a wall later in the season and struggled to get over it.

Oh again, I'm not saying anything about him directly. As I said, I haven't watched him this year. It just struck me as a lot of empty net goals (not just him, the team itself). I get why your best offensive guys would be out there when you're trying to score a goal at the end of the game, just surprised at the number of ENG is all.

It could be actually quite common too for all I know. This is one of those "baseball stats" to me. It's not anything that says anything. More trivia than something to care about.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Wild was almost a playoff team imagine comparing playing with Kaprizov, Rossi, Boldy, Brodin, etc

To Kurashev, Taylor Hall for 7 games, Nick Foligno and Joey Anderson

Kaprizov, Boldy, Brodin were all injured too for significant stretches of the season. And by nature of being an all situations defender getting 25 minutes a night, Faber spent a whole lot of his ice time with the Wild’s 3rd and 4th lines, Lucchini, Lettieri, Shaw (after 4 ACL tears,) Gaudreau (playing with torn abs since game 3) and the assorted AHL injury call ups were all as bad or worse than anyone on Chicagos roster this season.

We have seen how Faber looks with good players, we have seen how he looks with players worse than any of Bedards teammates. It does not change his individual proficiency just like playing with better players doesn’t change how good Bedard plays individually. It only affects counting stats, and that’s not the criteria for this award even if it’s often how it shakes out.

 

[BHawk21]

Kaprizov, Boldy, Brodin were all injured too for significant stretches of the season. And by nature of being an all situations defender getting 25 minutes a night, Faber spent a whole lot of his ice time with the Wild’s 3rd and 4th lines, Lucchini, Lettieri, Shaw (after 4 ACL tears,) Gaudreau (playing with torn abs since game 3) and the assorted AHL injury call ups were all as bad or worse than anyone on Chicagos roster this season.

We have seen how Faber looks with good players, we have seen how he looks with players worse than any of Bedards teammates. It does not change his individual proficiency just like playing with better players doesn’t change how good Bedard plays individually. It only affects counting stats, and that’s not the criteria for this award even if it’s often how it shakes out.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Oh again, I'm not saying anything about him directly. As I said, I haven't watched him this year. It just struck me as a lot of empty net goals (not just him, the team itself). I get why your best offensive guys would be out there when you're trying to score a goal at the end of the game, just surprised at the number of ENG is all.

It could be actually quite common too for all I know. This is one of those "baseball stats" to me. It's not anything that says anything. More trivia than something to care about.

It's absolutely an outlier. Team gave up way more than anybody else this year, and the second most anyone has given up in a decade+. I suspect it's also probably an abnormally high number for he himself to be on for, but that's a little more work to check.

And yeah, I'm not saying he's not to blame for something of that large number of goals against, but I absolutely doubt it's predictive or meaningful.

 

[BHawk21]

Bedard will win it.

But I do wonder if 60 points is a letdown for him. I was thinking he would get 75 points at minimum.

if he would have played the full seasons thats what he would have ended up with. If Davidson gets 1 good player to play with him next year it could be a 90 point season. Hes that talented at 18-19.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Wild fans should just be happy they didn't give 2nd place to Alex Vlasic.

 

[Faceboner]

Connor Bedard is going to win. He has to. Although the Calder is tainted because McDavid didn't win it, so who knows how voting will go. If anyone else other than Bedard wins it, its just as much as a sham as McDavids year.

McDavid only played like 40 games though incredible rookie year but only half a season

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

I’m not being hyperbolic on that, the Wild’s cap situation meant they couldn’t even call up their good AHL players, it was league minimum players only until Spurgeon was placed on LTIR.

The Calder is the only trophy in the NHL that is purely subjective and based on a sole season individual snap shot, things like the Selke and Vezina tend to get career influence, Hart is where teammates factor in slightly, but Calder is meant to be a pure assessment of where a player is at upon entering the league on their own merits. At least that is my interpretation and how I would approach it as a voter.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I thought if Bedard could be a PPG on the Hawks as a rookie it would be a great season and that's what he did. He also struggled mightily defensively and had injuries to deal with. I expect him to win, but it wouldn't be far-fetched for Faber to take it. He had a remarkable season all the way around playing d.

 

[Faceboner]

Picking Faber is like trying to be the smartes person in the room. Bedard was the best player for the hawks this year and had no help minny is deeper but Faber had more help with being on a team with kaprizov, ek, brodin, zucchini and boldy. His success was independent from them and he was the 1 d but he had more to work with

 

[Section88]

Funny thing is theres an argument to be made that Faber didn't even have a better season than Vlasic, let alone Bedard.

 

[Faceboner]

I thought if Bedard could be a PPG on the Hawks as a rookie it would be a great season and that's what he did. He also struggled mightily defensively and had injuries to deal with. I expect him to win, but it wouldn't be far-fetched for Faber to take it. He had a remarkable season all the way around playing d.

I'm starting to think his defensive woes are being overblown that team is horrible defense wise with or without CB98 I saw him get out of position because he was trying to much and puck chased because everyone would get out of position and never really marked anybody it was a free for all in their own zone they need to slow it down and play better zone defense and stay in position not puck chase. Defensemen need to know when to release from their target and let the teammate pick it up when it gets to their area to defend.

 

[BHawk21]

I’m not being hyperbolic on that, the Wild’s cap situation meant they couldn’t even call up their good AHL players, it was league minimum players only until Spurgeon was placed on LTIR.

The Calder is the only trophy in the NHL that is purely subjective and based on a sole season individual snap shot, things like the Selke and Vezina tend to get career influence, Hart is where teammates factor in slightly, but Calder is meant to be a pure assessment of where a player is at upon entering the league on their own merits. At least that is my interpretation and how I would approach it as a voter.

Theres about 12 guys that Bedard played with this year that wont be sniff NHL next year.

Seney Roos Crevier Pitlick Sanford Phillips Megna Tinordi Johnson Entwistle Guttman Katchouk Zaitsev? Anderson?

I know Obvious Fabertism is your name but Bedard is still going to win on pure assessment of his game his rookie year. Its close no doubt. And then you bring in external factors that shouldnt matter by definition but they are taken into account. 18 years old, 3 years younger, the next great player, pressure, good for NHL, wild didnt make the playoffs and in a smaller market.

Its Bedard

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Funny thing is theres an argument to be made that Faber didn't even have a better season than Vlasic, let alone Bedard.

If Vlasic is that good, then I guess Bedard wasn't playing with "nobody".

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Funny thing is theres an argument to be made that Faber didn't even have a better season than Vlasic, let alone Bedard.

Alex Vlasic played 21+ per night and finished with a -4 rating.
On a team that was -111.