With a slew of talented first-year players making their debut in RHL20, the race for the title of the league's top rookie promises to be an exciting one judging from the first half performance of many of the top prospects. Some have clearly risen to the top however and taken on top line roles with their clubs, while others have struggled to get the attention of their coaches in terms of ice time, and others have simple been disappointments so far. Here's a look at our evaluation of where some of the leading contenders for the Peter Stastny RHL Rookie of the Year Award stand today.
Top forwards:
With the arrival of highly touted left winger Bobby Ryan (32GP, 24G, 16A), the Airdrie T-Men finally have another potent weapon to offset the balance of their top unit anchored by the always dependable veteran Jarome Iginla (who incidentally is having another strong season so far with 21 goals and 41 points). His play has been vital to the positive team results so far, with the T-Men sitting in a playoff spot in the Howe Conference with 20 wins. Ryan also leads all rookies in goals and is currently tied for the rookie scoring lead with the Calgary Browns' Patrik Berglund.The 6'4" tall Swede today is on top of his club's scoring with 19 goals and 21 assists, which includes 5 game-winning goals. Its clear that the new generation in Calgary is making inroads and in terms of the centre position, RHL veterans such as Joe Sakic and Michal Handzus are falling further down on the depth chart as a result. Surrounded by still productive 19-year RHL professionals such as Ray Whitney and Alexei Kovalev has made Berglund's adjustment to the pro game all the more easier however, with the club looking to be safely in a playoff spot.
A team also not in any danger of missing the RHL20 post-season is the Edmonton Eagles, who sit atop the Howe Conference with 55 points at the time of this article. A saavy draft choice in right winger Devin Setoguchi (third in rookie scoring with 16 goals and 34 points) and careful development has brought along this player to the point where he now can play comfortably on either of the top lines of this very offensively potent Eagles club. Setoguchi has managed to log the most average ice time per game of all of our evaluated forward rookies so far this season at 18.4MPG, as well as the most shots fired (135).
Honorable mentions: Steve Stamkos (32pts for the GRB), Kris Versteeg (23pts and best +/- rating among the top ten rookie forwards, from the MIM) and Frans Nielsen (10 goals and 23pts for the REA).
Top defencemen:
The Grande Prairie Stingers are showing what good drafting is all about with 7 rookies on their active roster today. Led by defenceman Keith Yandle (30pts in 33 games), these first year players are giving fans in the Alberta city a taste of what is to come. The Boston native currently sits first in all rookie defencemen scoring and is a brilliant +15 and maintaining a very disciplined approached to his game with just 6 PIM.As with Yandle, our next candidate among blueliners is not a serious threat to score goals, but is still a solid offensive contributor and puck distributor, as noted by his 25 assists so far in RHL20. Kyle Quincey has shown that his passing skills (leads our rookie defencemen with a 88.3% pass completion rating) are matched by his rugged play in the corners (winning 53.6% of his corner battles), making him a great all around defender.
Our third selection is the Saskatoon Funboys' Anton Stralman. The Swedish blueliner is angling himself into a nice spot behind veterans Niedermayer and Redden on the defence core, and has quietly amasssed 17 points while playing an average of 21.3 minutes per game. As the prairie city continues to battle to maintain its playoff spot, there is no doubt Stralman will have to play a key role, although his durability to last a full year is uncertain.
Honorable mention: Matt Hunwick (21pts in 33 games for the NJT), Drew Doughty (13pts with 22.7MPG for the BRO).
Top goalies:
As a pure rookie, establishing himself as a true number one netminder takes a lot of confidence, ability and most of all, opportunity. So far only two such players have been able to crack the barrier that is the starting goaltender's role on one of the 24 RHL clubs. They are Steve Mason of the Browns (34 games, 17 wins, .904 save percentage and 2.73 GAA), and Pekka Rinne of Baffin Isle (29 games, 15 wins, .923 save percentage and 2.22 GAA).Of the two, Mason has been relied on more by his team and has the weaker backup support and is playing on a relatively weaker club in Calgary. Rinne on the other hand has shown how much promise he has and a clear ability to withstand the pressure of being the last line of defence for a perennial RHL championship contender with the Rovers. Both have put up three goose eggs each through the course of the season so far as well, and on paper are more evenly matched than one might expect, taking out the factor of the strength of the teams they represent.
That all said, the race continues in the second half to see which of these (and perhaps some not yet on our radar) talented rookies will make the final ballot at season's end.
