Account
Calder Controversy: Jonathan Toews Or Carey Price?
April 23, 2008
The race for the Calder trophy has been quite tight this year with a rookie class of high talent. Possible candidates could be: Patrick Kane, Nicklas Backstrom, Carey Price, Jonathan Toews, and Peter Mueller.
Unfortunately, Peter Mueller and the Phoenix Coyotes missed the playoffs, but had a good run during the season. Mueller played in every game except one and finished with 54 points, 22 of those being goals. What made Mueller fall out of the Calder race? It was most likely his +/- being -13 and the fact his team didn't make the playoffs.
The three finalists for the Calder trophy were named and the lucky three are Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of Chicago, and Nicklas Backstrom of Washington.
It was no doubt Kane and Backstrom would be two of the three finalists finishing the season so close in points, goals, and assists. Although Kane didn't lead his team to the playoffs like Backstrom, he finished an outstanding rookie season with 72 points.
The argument over this years final three is whether the third candidate should have been Jonathan Toews or Montreal goalie, Carey Price.
Jonathan Toews had some problems early in the season missing the first few games with a thumb injury, then missing more games due to a leg injury. Despite being unlucky, Toews still had a strong season with 54 points in just 64 games. Toews was actually supposed to produce more than Kane this year, but played 18 fewer games.
So why not Carey Price? I couldn't tell you because this 21 year old goalie has done a great job this season for Montreal. Price didn't see much playing time early in the season due to the Canadiens starting Huet instead. Once Huet was traded to Washington at the deadline, Price stood his ground in net and finished with a record of 24-12-0. He also had a 2.56 GAA and a .920 save percentage. Carey Price was arguably, the best rookie goalie to play in the NHL in a while. Not only did he prove himself in the regular season, but he took Montreal into the playoffs and defeated Boston in 7 games.
Many Montreal fans still stick with their slogan of "The Price is Right", as they should because he has done well so far in his young career. There will be many NHL fans upset with this decision of the final three, but we cant complain about Jonathan Toews as we know he will be an offensive force in his NHL career.