It's a Canadian Game

@jammer2 I'd agree, but would Holtby still be considered a rookie? He was Washington's back up last year and played the entire playoffs for them.

@yave1964 turns out Gallagher is now out with a concussion, I guess that goes any hope he had at the title

I would love that, I tried to for the blog, but it isn't working

yea as a Leaf fan I disagree with Gallagher.. jks jks Yea kid looks good, had a nice goal against Philly last night. Also i definitely think I should have added Dougie Hamilton to the list, hes been stellar for Boston

*I wanted to blog this, but it wouldn't post, but still wanted to get it out there... let me know what you think* Even though we are only about a month into the NHL season we have already seen many rookie players make huge strides and contributions to their NHL teams. With these hot starts, many young names are already receiving some consideration for rookie of the year honours. So with that in mind, let’s have a look at a few of the players likely to receive Calder Cup consideration come seasons end. Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues) RW Tarasenko has probably been the biggest surprise among this year’s rookie class as he has come out of the gate flying. Tarasenko opened the season with an impressive 10 points in his first 8 games. Now although Tarasenko has since cooled down, recording just 1 point in his last 5 games, he has been a solid force for the Blues. Tarasenko is a -2; however this stat doesn’t seem too bad, especially when you consider that only four players on the Blues roster have a plus rating. The speedy Russian has also given a boost to the Blues’ powerplay, chipping in for two goals this season. Tarasenko has tremendous offensive upside and if the Blues hope to return to the post season they might need to rely on this young forward’s soft hands. Damien Brunner (Detroit Red Wings) C Brunner has been another big surprise for the Red Wings. The Swiss native, like many great Red wings before him, seems to be the result of great scouting. Brunner was signed as a free agent on July 1st last summer and 13 games into this season Brunner has already put up 6 goals and 9 points. On January 21st he showed the hockey world his true skill when he scored the shootout winner against the Columbus Blue Jackets on a move that was very reminiscent of fellow Red Wing teammate Pavel Datsyuk. Brunner is obviously fitting in in Detroit and playing amongst veterans like Datsyuk and Zetterberg can only help this 26 year old rookie strive this season and onward. Brunner’s shootout goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets Corey Conachor (Tampa Bay Lightning) C Conacchor is a kid who seems to have come out of nowhere. Conachor made a splash last season as a rookie with the Norfolk Admirals, leading the league in scoring, being named AHL MVP, and rookie of the year honours. It now seems like Conachor hasn’t slowed down from this pace. Conachor has 12 points in his first 13 games and leads the Lightning with two game winning goals. Conachor, like Brunner, was signed by the Lightning as a free agent and has provided some great secondary scoring, giving some relief to stars Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. Nail Yakupov (Edmonton Oilers) RW Yakupov has already started his season with some controversy. Many players and media alike were upset about his goal celebration against the L.A. Kings earlier this season after he scored a beauty goal knocking the puck out of mid-air to tie the game with under four seconds to play. Whether you’re a fan or not though, there is no debating that Yakupov is a highly skilled forward and he is proving it. Yakupov has amassed 5 goals and 8 points in his first 13 games and has not looked out of place playing on a very young Edmonton team. Despite having a team worst -7 plus/minus rating, Yakupov has been a stellar force on Edmonton’s powerplay, amassing 3 goals with the man advantage. Yakupov also leads the team with a 22% shooting percentage, meaning when he gets the chance Yakupov can bury the puck. Yakupov, along with the rest of the Oiler squad will continue to mature and grow accustom to the NHL and as they do Edmonton may be on the verge of a dynasty they haven’t seen since the Gretzky- Messier years. Justin Schultz (Edmonton Oilers) D At the end of last season Justin Schultz was part of a giant bidding war with almost every team hoping to acquire the talented defenseman’s services. After much negotiation Schultz signed with the Edmonton Oilers, many were surprised he would agree to sign with such a young team. However, Schultz tore up the AHL this season and has not looked out of place on the Oilers back end. Schultz has helped to quarterback the Edmonton powerplay and so far has amassed 8 points in 11 games including a team best, 4 powerplay goals. Schultz has also averaged over 23 minutes of ice-time which also leads all Oiler skaters. Schultz in his first professional season has already become a staple on Edmonton’s backend and looks to be an important piece in Edmonton’s push to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. There is no question that these five players will likely go on to have very successful NHL careers and although the season is still very young, these five incredible talents are already turning heads. So, don’t be surprised if come June these names are given some serious Calder Trophy consideration. Who do you think will win rookie of the year? Someone listed above or is someone else making a splash? Some of this year’s rookies’ first goals

All true, Stafford has killed me in hockey pools being great one season and then doing as you said "disappear". However, I think the biggest thing for Buffalo is going to be if Vanek can keep up this play. If you remember Vanek had a very similar start last season and then he cooled right off. He still finished with a solid 61 points, but not as high as he has the potential to hit. (and as I write this I checked the score of the Buffalo -Florida game and Vanek has a goal and an assist on 2 goals)

With seven games now under their belt it seems like there might be no stopping the San Jose Sharks, but is this year’s team a real contender or is history likely to repeat itself. The Sharks have started off the season a league best 7-0-0, a franchise record, but although this may be the best start the Sharks have had don’t hold your breath just yet. The Sharks have been no stranger to strong seasons or even post-season play, but as history as shown, it is once they make the playoffs that things start to unravel. In the past five seasons the Sharks have never made an appearance in the Stanley Cup final. They have been eliminated in the first round twice in the last five years in 2009 and 2012. They were eliminated in the second round in 2008 and eliminated in the conference final in 2010 and 2011. All these disappointing post seasons followed regular seasons where they finished atop the Pacific division every year minus last season where they finished second in their division. However, this season the Sharks are off to a roaring start and much of the team’s success can be attributed to the stellar play of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Anti Niemi. Marleau started off the season tying a record that has not been equaled since 1917-1918. Marleau started the season recording two goals in each of the first four games of the season. He is currently the league leader in goals having lit the lamp nine times in the first seven games and totaling 14 points. Thornton has also been the recipient of Marleau’s hot start. Thornton has amassed 14 points in the first seven games including 11 assists with most following a Marleau tally. If Thornton should keep up this pace he would finish the season with 75 assists and 96 points. Pavelski, like Marleau and Thornton, is also off to a thunderous start recording 12 points in seven games. Pavelski will eclipse the highest totals of his career in a shortened season if he can keep up his pace. What this line has also really helped to deliver is one of the hottest powerplay units in the league. San Jose has the 5th best powerplay, running at a 30.8% success rate and scoring 12 times. The trio alone has recorded 8 of those goals and has also been responsible for 4 game-winning goals. Besides being an offensive powerhouse the Sharks have also been very responsible in their own end of the ice due in large by the solid play of goaltender Anti Niemi. Niemi has put up a goals against average of 1.95 and has a save percentage of 0.933 both of which are among the league leaders in those categories. So, with a team that has been able to be nearly perfect in both ends of the rink thus far it would seem that the Sharks are an early favourite to win the cup. Unfortunately for the Sharks if they want to live up to this early hype they are going to have to prove that this time around they are not just a team that can have a strong regular season, but that they can also bring their stellar play to the playoffs. Follow me on Twitter @Craig_Hagerman