April 7, 2018 by Brian Fogarty
There have been a lot of tremendous rookie players in the NHL this season, many of whom deserve consideration and discussion as some of the top first-year players in the league, but Mathew Barzal put up a season that set him apart from the rest of the class. Had Brock Boeser not been fallen by a completely random bench-gate event that ended his season, he may have been able to give Barzal a run to the end. However, as the season winds down in its last days of the regular season, Barzal is the clearcut Calder Trophy winner.
Mathew Barzal
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To start the discussion on just how good Barzal has been this season, it seems appropriate to look at where he stands in a key offensive category--points scored per 60 minutes of ice time. For all NHL players with at least 60 games played this season, the top ten were (ranked by P60, with P60 and even-strength P60 scores shown):
1) Evgeni Malkin (4.00, 3.10)
2) Nathan MacKinnon (3.96, 3.26)
3) Brad Marchand (3.94, 3.62)
4) Taylor Hall (3.88, 2.72)
5) Nikita Kucherov (3.80, 2.93)
6) Connor McDavid (3.59, 3.47)
7) Claude Giroux (3.56, 2.89)
8) Steven Stamkos (3.53, 2.74)
9) Phil Kessel (3.49, 2.36)
10) Mathew Barzal (3.46, 2.89)
Read more: Barzal Is The Only Choice For Calder in 2018
April 3, 2018 by Brian Fogarty
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The Spring 2018 edition of the Top Prospects: The Defensemen ranking saw a lot of movement by many of the game's best young blueliners, and among the graduated are four of the top 6 from last summer and 11 of the top 50 (stats are 2018 NHL):
Pulling so much of the quality out of the prospect pool means that several players have moved up considerably, but the player at the top in the summer retains his status as hockey's top defensive prospect, and by a wide margin.
Read more: Top Prospects: The Defensemen, Spring 2018
March 5, 2018 by Brian Fogarty
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The spring edition of the Hockey Prophets Top Prospects: The Forwards ranking has a new number one as several of the top players from last summer's version have graduated to the NHL, and a few truly outstanding performances from some of Europe's best young forwards have vaulted players to the top of the rank. Gone from the summer list are former top 20 prospects Nico Hischier (#1 on the Summer 2017 ranking), Nolan Patrick (2), Jesse Puljujarvi (3), Pierre-Luc Dubois (5), Clayton Keller (6), Kyle Connor (7), Timo Meier (10), Mathew Barzal (11) and Brock Boeser (16). Without new prospects joining the ranks until the NHL draft this summer, several prospects have therefore climbed the list, assuming spots left vacant. However, player stepping into the top spot earned his promotion with his incredible play in the Swedish Hockey League.
Read more: Top Prospects: The Forwards, Spring 2018
