Calder Trophy Nominees Announced

The nominees for this year's NHL awards are starting to be announced, and on Wednesday we learned that Columbus' Steve Mason, Anaheim's Bobby Ryan and Chicago's Kris Versteeg were the top vote-getters for the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year.

There's no surprises here, as it's been assumed for much of the season that Mason, Columbus' 20-year-old goalie, is a slam dunk winner. Despite his struggles in the playoffs (awards are voted on before the postseason begins, by the way) no goalie recorded more shutouts during the season (10) while he also finished second in the league with a 2.29 goals average and 12th with a .916 save percentage. He is, perhaps, the biggest reason Columbus made its first trip to the postseason in franchise history.

Ryan, the second overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, burst onto the scene with the Ducks and led all rookies with 57 points (31 goals, 26 assists) despite playing in just 64 games. He's also responsible for one of the best goals of the season, capping off a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings with this series of moves:



The Blackhawks acquired Versteeg from the Boston Bruins on February 3, 2007, in exchange for Brandon Bochenski in what can only be described as highway robbery for Chicago. He finished the 2008-09 season with 53 points, trailing only Ryan in the rookie scoring race.

So, now that we've seen the list, let's begin the griping. Puck Daddy would have liked to have seen Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty make the cut, while I'll make a brief shout for Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne. An eighth-round pick in 2004 (258th overall), the 26-year-old posted a 29-15-4 record, while also finishing in the top-10 in goals against average and save percentage for a Predators team that narrowly missed out on the postseason.

At the end of the day, however, it's a one-horse race with Mason.

On Thursday, the NHL will announce the nominees for the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman. The winners will be announced at the NHL awards ceremony on June 18, 2009, in Las Vegas.