NHL's 2024-25 Calder Trophy: Ranking 5 best rookies in contention at season's halfway mark

This years rookie class is top-heavy and a fiercely competitive race for the Calder Trophy is brewing.

Its also dynamic and ever-changing, which is reflected in how different The Athletic s midseason ranking looks compared to the first-quarter mark .

For our midseason Calder watch, reporters Scott Wheeler and Harman Dayal each submitted five-player ballots (the same length as their PHWA awards ballot) and combined the results.

Here are their evaluations of the top five, which included a tie at the top.

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Macklin Celebrini C, 18, San Jose Sharks Wheelers ballot: 1st Dayals ballot: 2nd Average: 1.5 Wheeler: Despite missing 12 games, Celebrini has already closed the gap with his peers and reassumed his spot at the front of the race into its second half.

Hes the unequivocal best rookie in the NHL this year and looks well-positioned to have a season comparable to the one that won Connor Bedard the Calder last season (61 points in 68 games).

Celebrinis playing almost 20 minutes per game, has looked like a force in some games and an impactful player the rest and is doing it as a center, including recently with two rookie wingers in Collin Graf and Will Smith before another lineup shuffle.

His early microstats point to a potential NHL superstar, too.

Its his race to lose, pending another injury or a scoring slump.

Dayal: Celebrinis 0.88 points-per-game rate leads the rookie class and the Sharks.

However, just as important as the point totals is how dynamic and complete his overall game has looked.

Celebrini is already an elite force at carrying the puck through the neutral zone and creating offensive zone entries with possession.

Hes remarkably strong on his feet for an 18-year-old center, allowing him to win puck battles in all three zones.

Secondary assists account for less than a third of Celebrinis total points (31 percent), whereas 16 of Lane Hutson s 31 points (52 percent) have been secondary assists.

Opinions differ on whether secondary assists are as valuable as primary points.

I personally dont think it makes a huge difference, but its at least worth mentioning.

Picking between Celebrini and Hutson at No.

1 was incredibly difficult.

I flip-flopped back and forth for a while and ultimately landed on Hutson, for reasons Ill explain in his section.

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Lane Hutson LHD, 20, Montreal Canadiens Wheelers ballot: 2nd Dayals ballot: 1st Average: 1.5 Wheeler: In the last 20 years, only three U21 defensemen have broken 50 points in the NHL: Drew Doughty , Quinn Hughes and Moritz Seider .

You have to go back to the 80s to find the last U21 defenseman to touch 60 points all the way back to names like Paul Coffey, Brian Leetch and Phil Housley.

For a while, it looked like that first group would be the target for Hutson.

But since taking over the Habs top power-play unit from Mike Matheson , he has played at a pace for that second, bigger number.

Advertisement Theres still a lot of hockey to play and he would have to continue to make magic happen for a Montreal team that should come back to earth a little as a whole, but that were talking about 60 at the midway point for Hutson is pretty remarkable.

And while hes still learning to defend, hes playing huge minutes as a rookie and the Habs have been a much better team in aggregate with him on the ice than off this season in terms of goal differential.

Dayal: I originally had Celebrini No.

1 on my ballot, but Ive been blown away watching a lot of Hutsons recent games, which convinced me to change my mind.

The way Hutson is commanding play from the back end by serving as a one-man breakout machine and using his excellent skating in the offensive zone to set up scoring chances at will is honestly Quinn Hughes-esque at times.

Im not saying Hutson is the next Hughes because thatd be an unfair comparison, but as a Vancouver-based reporter whos covered Hughes for six seasons, I can honestly say I see similarities in their offensive game.

Hutson has piled up 29 assists in 42 games he has an outside chance of breaking Brian Leetch and Larry Murphys shared NHL record for most assists by a rookie defenseman (60).

Hutsons defensive game is far from perfect and he made some loud mistakes early in the season, but his two-way results have reached an entirely different level over the last six weeks or so.

Hutsons helped the Canadiens control a dominant, team-leading 55.8 percent of five-on-five shot attempts and 57.5 percent of goals during his five-on-five shifts over the last 20 games.

Its also worth recognizing that his full-season numbers would be stellar if he didnt spend chunks of the year dragged down by a rapidly declining David Savard as his defense partner.

Hutsons posted a 54 percent share of shot attempts and has a plus-9 goal differential in nearly 500 five-on-five minutes away from Savard.

Hes doing all this while averaging nearly 23 minutes per game, so its not as if hes been sheltered.

Celebrinis two-way game is very mature for his age, but his statistical results, while solid for being on a bad team, arent eye-popping: San Joses controlled 45.3 percent of scoring chances during his five-on-five shifts.

With that in mind, and Hutsons surging play, I dont buy the narrative that Celebrinis all-around/two-way impact has been far superior to Hutsons.

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Dustin Wolf G, 23, Calgary Flames Wheelers ballot: 3rd Dayals ballot: 3rd Average: 3.0 Wheeler: Its pretty simple with Wolf.

Among the 60 goalies whove played in 10 or more games this season, he ranks 17th in goals saved above expected and his partner, Dan Vladar , ranks 40th.

Theres no way the Flames are in the playoff hunt at the halfway mark without him.

He has been an upper-echelon goalie this year.

If he stays healthy and performs at a comparable level the rest of the way, he wont just end up on some five-deep PHWA ballots he might be one of the three finalists.

If the Flames somehow make the playoffs, itll probably be because hes had a better season than his most likely competitor for that third nomination, Matvei Michkov .

Dayal: Before the season started, how many people predicted the Flames would be in a playoff spot (which they currently are by points percentage) at the halfway mark? Wolf is the most valuable player on a team thats wildly exceeded expectations.

Calgary has a 15-6-2 record (114-point pace) during Wolfs games and a 6-8-5 record (73-point pace) when he doesnt start.

The undersized 23-year-old netminder has registered a .916 save percentage, which ranks sixth-best among all goalies whove played at least 20 games this season.

Wolfs athleticism, instincts and reads are phenomenal.

Hes single-handedly given the Flames opportunities to win games where theyve been decisively outplayed.

I understand the lack of games played argument against Wolf, but lets remember that even a first-line forward is only on the ice for about one-third of the game (20ish minutes) whereas goalies have an outsized impact over a full 60 minutes when they play.

Wolfs value to the Flames success this season cant be overstated.

4.

Matvei Michkov RW, 20, Philadelphia Flyers Wheelers ballot: 4th Dayals ballot: 4th Average: 4.0 Wheeler: At the time of our first-quarter look at the race, Michkov had 17 points in 20 games (0.85 points per game, or a 70-point 82-game pace) and was minus-1.

Since then, he has 12 points and a minus-8 rating in his last 19 games (0.63 points per game, or a 52-point 82-game pace).

Advertisement The high end and low end of those outcomes are both excellent rookie seasons for a 20-year-old playing on a team with the Flyers talent.

In aggregate, hes still on a 60ish-point pace.

Thats very impressive.

But if we were casting ballots today, he has likely drifted toward down-ballot consideration rather than real contention for the award.

Dayal: Michkovs fall to No.

4 on our rankings isnt an indictment of his play, but a reflection of how dominant the players above him have played over the last 20 games.

Nobody will be surprised if he finds another gear in the second half of the season and re-emerges as a Calder favorite; hes still firmly entrenched in the race.

Michkov has an elite offensive skill set between his creativity, deception and playmaking vision.

I love how much of a shift disturber he can be, getting in players faces and under their skin.

Talk to him, Matvei.

#LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/PbgBQiWbS6 Flyers Clips (@Flyers_Clips) January 12, 2025 But it was hard to justify having him higher than No.

4 right now: Celebrinis produced at a superior point-per-game pace and driven play as a center, Hutson appears to be on track for a historic rookie season from a defenseman and Wolf has been the MVP for a team thats surprisingly in the playoff hunt.

5.

Logan Stankoven RW/C, 21, Dallas Stars Wheelers ballot: 5th Dayals ballot: 5th Average: 5.0 Wheeler: I debated Maxim Tsyplakov for the fifth spot on my ballot but Stankoven does more/drives more and there hasnt been a more unlucky rookie in the league this season.

Hes second among rookies to Celebrini in shots per game, with over 100 already, and has just four goals to show for it.

The eye test and the heat charts both tell you its not because hes playing on the perimeter, either.

Stankoven is a determined, slot-focused player who goes to the net and works to get to the middle.

The goals are going to start to fall and I expect him to finish the season as the leagues fifth-best rookie behind the big four.

Dayal: Stankovens impact and performance have been far better than his point totals would give him credit for.

Hes generated 8.5 expected goals at five-on-five based on the quality of his individual scoring chances, which ranks top 50 among all NHL players this season, yet hes only scored two actual five-on-five goals.

Hes been completely snakebitten.

Advertisement Stankovens dogged puck pursuit and puck-battling have contributed to sterling two-way analytics.

Hes already an above-average play-driver.

The diminutive 21-year-old is slick and smooth with the puck and a smart, talented playmaker below the dots.

(Photos of Macklin Celebrini and Lane Hutson: Ezra Shaw and Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.