Toronto Maple Leafs: Michael Bunting and More Calder Trophy Candidates
Toronto Maple Leafs rookie, Michael Bunting, is gaining praise around the NHL for his magnificent play this season. Bunting currently leads the NHL in rookie goal scoring.
There hasn’t been this much hype surrounding a Toronto Maple Leafs rookie since Bunting’s linemates, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, entered the league during the 2016-17 season.
After that season both Matthews and Marner were named to the NHL All-Rookie Team, and Auston Matthews won the Calder trophy as NHL rookie of the year becoming the first member of the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Calder since 1966.
Before Matthews and Marner were on the All-Rookie Team, there was Jake Gardiner (2012), Luke Schenn (2009), Mike Johnson (1998), Sergei Berezin (1997), Kenny Jönsson (1995), Félix Potvin (1993), Wendel Clark (1986), and Dan Daoust (1983).
What are Michael Bunting’s chances of making the NHL All-Rookie Team or winning the Calder trophy? Could he at least be a Calder finalist?
NHL Calder Candidates vs Michael Bunting of the Toronto Maple Leafs
The NHL rookie scoring race is tight. There’s currently only three points separating the rookie scoring leader from fourth place.
There are also some hot rookie goalies taking over the net in the NHL and at least one of them has a really good chance of beating the competition for the Calder.
Here’s my list of the six players I think will be named to the 2022 NHL All-Rookie Team. They’re in order from least likely to win the Calder to most likely to win the Calder. (Stats from TSN.ca).
Jamie Drysdale – Anaheim Ducks Defenseman
Age: 19
Goals: 3
Points: 23
Games: 56
Draft: 1st Round (6th Overall) in 2020
Jamie Drysdale is very likely to make the NHL All-Rookie Team, but he’d have to have an astonishing finish to the season to be in Calder contention.
If this were just a list of the top rookies this season, there would be a few more players ahead of him, but they’d be forwards and maybe another goaltender. I wanted this list to represent an All-Rookie Team, so here’s your second defenseman.
Compared to other rookie defensemen this season, there’s no doubt that Jamie Drysdale has had the second best performance this season and is definitely deserving of being on the NHL All-Rookie Team (the best rookie defenseman is closer to the top of this list).
The next best rookie defensemen would be Bowen Byram (Colorado Avalanche), Alexandre Carrier (Nashville Predators) and Sean Durzi (drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs but now playing with the Los Angeles Kings).
Bowen Byram may have an outside chance of taking this spot from Drysdale, but he’s only played in 18 games this season, so he may have too small a sample size to be considered.
Jeremy Swayman – Boston Bruins Goaltender
Age: 23
Save Percentage: .929
Goals Against Average: 1.95
Record: 13-7-3
Shutouts: 3
Draft: 4th Round (111th Overall) in 2017
In all honesty, if I was voting, my top Calder trophy vote would go to Jeremy Swayman. Not only is he dominating rookie goaltending stats, he’s leading the NHL in goals against average and has the the fourth best save percentage among qualified goalies in the league.
However, this list reflects the odds of winning the Calder and not necessarily my personal opinion of who is more deserving. It’s very rare that a goaltender wins the Calder trophy. The last goaltender to win was Steve Mason in 2009.
Swayman has been splitting games in a tandem with Linus Ullmark, and though Ullmark has played more games, Swayman has been outplaying him and has been getting more starts recently as a result.
Since 1995, only three goaltenders have won the Calder, and they’ve all played around 60 games: Steve Mason (61 games in 2008-09), Andrew Raycroft (57 games in 2003-04), and Evgeni Nabokov (66 games in 2000-01).
Even if Jeremy Swayman played in all of the remaining games for the Boston Bruins, he’d only play in 51 total games. It probably won’t be enough.
The next best rookie goaltenders this season is Alex Nedeljkovic (Detroit Red Wings). Though his 3.13 goals against average and .903 save percentage aren’t great, he does lead rookie goaltenders with 38 games played.
Nedeljkovic was named to last season’s NHL All-Rookie Team, and if he were to be named again this season, he would join Jamie Storr (1998 & 1999) and Jake Allen (2013 & 2015) as the only players to be named to two NHL All-Rookie Teams – all goalies.
Jeremy Swayman was the NHL Rookie of the Month for February 2022.
Michael Bunting – Toronto Maple Leafs Left Winger
Age: 26
Goals: 19
Points: 42
Games: 54
Draft: 4th Round (117th Overall) in 2014 (Arizona Coyotes)
As a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I’m cheering for Michael Bunting to win the Calder trophy, but the odds are not in his favour.
Analytically, he has a great chance at the Calder as he leads all NHL rookies in goals and is second in points. He’s also heating up as he led all NHL rookies in goals and point during the month of February with seven goals and 14 points in 12 games.
The problem is his age. At 26 years old, he’s seven years older than some of the players on this list and barely qualifies for the Calder. In my eyes, it shouldn’t matter, but I feel that those voting for the Calder trophy will favor younger players in a close race.
I know Kirill Kaprizov won the Calder last season at 24, but he had 10 more goals and six more points than runner-up, Jason Robertson, who is three years younger. It wasn’t as tight a race as this season so far.
If Michael Bunting can keep his pace from February through to the end of the season and can get a convincing led of his competition, he may have a chance at the Calder.
It’s a tough pace to keep, but it helps to be on a line with Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews. Both of whom are two years younger than Bunting and enjoying their sixth NHL seasons.
If Michael Bunting wins the Calder trophy, he’d be the oldest player to win the award since Sergei Makarov (31) in 1990. The only other player the win the Calder trophy that was older that 26 was Jim McFadden (27) in 1948.
Lucas Raymond – Detroit Red Wings Winger
Age: 19
Goals: 16
Points: 43
Games: 54
Draft: 1st Round (4th Overall) in 2020
As the current leader in the rookie points race, it may be surprising to see Lucas Raymond ranked as low as number three on this list. This is a close race though and my guess is that Raymond doesn’t lead rookie scoring by the time the season is over, but it should be very close.
It’s definitely too early to tell, but right now, Lucas Raymond is looking like the best player taken out of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. He’s already outscoring 1st overall pick, Alexis Lafreniere, who has player twice as many games.
The only player selected from the 2020 NHL Draft with more career points (so far) is the 3rd overall pick, Tim Stützle, who has 13 more points in 50 more games. Again, I know… it’s way too early to tell who won and lost the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers) is another forward from the same draft year was very close to making this list. Tanner Jeannot (Nashville Predators) and Matt Boldy (Minnesota Wild) are forwards close to making this list as well.
Lucus Raymond was named NHL Rookie of the Month for November 2021, and Anton Lundell was NHL Rookie of the Month for January 2022.
If you’re picking Lucas Raymond to win the Calder trophy, it’s not a foolish bet at all. He has a good chance, but my prediction is that he joins Michael Bunting as the wingers on the NHL All-Rookie Team and is named a Calder finalist but falls short on winning the trophy.
Moritz Seider – Detroit Red Wings Defenseman
Age: 20
Goals: 5
Points: 40
Games: 54
Draft: 1st Round (6th Overall) in 2019
If Moritz Seider and his Detroit Red Wings teammate, Lucas Raymond, are both named Calder trophy finalists, it would be the 24th time in NHL history that two teammates were both finalist for the award.
It’s not as uncommon as I would’ve thought. 10 of those instances were even after the original six era. The 1964 Montreal Canadiens are the only team in NHL history to have three Calder finalists in the same year.
The last time teammates were Calder finalists was in 2014 when Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson from the Tampa Bay Lightning were both finalists.
Whenever a defenseman is in the NHL rookie scoring race, they have a good chance at winning the Calder and Moritz Seider is currently sitting fourth in the rookie points race but just three points out of the lead.
It seems like forwards are usually favoured for the Calder, but Cale Makar won it in 2020, Aaron Ekblad won in 2015 and Tyler Myers won in 2010. Moritz Seider has a great chance at winning the Calder this season, because not only is he near the top of the rookie scoring ranks as a defenseman, he’s also a reliable defender trusted with a team high 22:58 in average ice time.
Moritz Seider is a huge, 6’4, defenseman who hits and is ranked 12th in the league with 107 blocks shots. He is the full package.
If I was voting for the Calder trophy, Seider would be my second choice after Jeremy Swayman, but there’s another player that I think those with a vote are more likely to choose.
Trevor Zegras – Anaheim Ducks Centre
Age: 20
Goals: 15
Points: 41
Games: 50
Draft: 1st Round (9th Overall) in 2019
My bet is on Trevor Zegras winning the Calder trophy. I’m also predicting that he leads all NHL rookies in scoring by the end of the season. He’s two points behind Lucas Raymond right now, but has played four less games.
I think voters will see him at the top of rookie scoring, they’ll remember the crazy “Michigan” goal he scored, the wild over the net assist and the insane Breakaway Challenge goal from the NHL All-Star game and it’ll be a no-brainer.
Right now, the only player taken out of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft with more points than Trevor Zegras is 1st overall pick, Jack Hughes. Again, it’s still really to early to tell who won the 2019 draft, but getting the second best player at 9th overall looks good for the Ducks.
Travor Zegras was named NHL Rookie of the Month for December 2021 and is definitely deserving of the Calder. It’s certainly wouldn’t be a crime if he won, but I would probably choose Jeremy Swayman, Moritz Seider and Michael Bunting over him if I was voting.
Nothing against Zegras, I just feel that the other three will have accomplished more by the end of the season. Swayman has some of the best goaltending stats in the league, Seider is a complete defenseman at only 20 years old, and I think Bunting will have a lot more goals than Zegras by the end of the year.
If Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale or Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond make the NHL All-Rookie Team, it will be the first time teammate have been on the All-Rookie Team since the Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were on the team in 2017.
Two sets of teammates have been on the NHL All-Rookie Team together four times in NHL history: 2014 (Frederik Andersen, Hampus Lindholm, Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson), 2007 (Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Matt Carle, Marc-Édouard Vlasic), 2000 (Simon Gagné, Brian Boucher, Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski) and 1985 (Mario Lemieux, Warren Young, Chris Chelios, Steve Penney)
Two teammates have been on the NHL All-Rookie Team together many times, but only the 1987 Los Angeles Kings have had three players on the All-Rookie Team in the same year: Luc Robitaille, Jimmy Carson and Steve Duchesne.
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I’m wishing Michael Bunting the best of luck in the Calder race. I’ll be cheering him on despite his uphill battle against some tough competition.