2018 Calder Trophy race: 5 best rookies in the NHL

2. Brock Boeser

Let’s take a second to consider the season Brock Boeser has had.

Boeser was the runaway Calder favorite earlier in the season thanks to his outstanding goal-scoring skills. Playing on a poor Vancouver Canucks team, the 2015 first-round draftee has been deadly with the puck on his stick.

The super-sniper has 22 goals and 41 points so far, but has been ice cold recently, with goals and points drying up. Yet it is a testament to how good he was earlier in the season that he is still seventh in the NHL in goals scored.

American Boeser joined the Canucks after playing his junior hockey in the NCAA with the University of North Dakota. Speculation has linked the winger’s cold streak with exhaustion, as he is used to the lighter college schedule. His situation has not been helped by the injury to Vancouver’s first line center Bo Horvat, whose chemistry with Boeser had a huge impact on the youngster’s early production.

But Boeser has proven how great he can be and could still be a huge Calder Trophy threat if he finds his form again.