Colorado Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon wins Calder Trophy
Nathan MacKinnon was named the Calder Trophy winner at the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening as the Colorado Avalanche center wins the rookie of the year award.
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MacKinnon, 18, became the youngest to win the award and certainly lived up to the billing as the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and was an integral part in helping lead Patrick Roy‘s club to the top record in the Western Conference this year.
Forwards Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat of the Tampa Bay Lightning were the two other finalists who lost to MacKinnon who was an overwhelming favorite to win the award.
MacKinnon recorded 24 goals and 39 assists to finish with 63 points and added 10 more points in seven playoff games against the Minnesota Wild with two more goals and eight assists as his playmaking ability makes him one of the rising stars in the NHL.
All smiles for this guy. @Mackinnon9 takes a photo with his new hardware. #NHLAwards pic.twitter.com/edVTXodwgI
— NHL (@NHL) June 24, 2014
MacKinnon is the second member from the Avalanche to win the Calder in the last three seasons after Gabriel Landeskog won the award in 2011-2012. Chris Drury, Peter Forsberg and Peter Stastny are the others to win the Calder for the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques organization.
However, Drury was the only one of the trio to win the award after the club moved from Quebec City to Colorado.
The season ended prematurely for MacKinnon and the Avalanche as they lost in a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Wild, but the future is incredibly bright for the talented center from Halifax.