Winning rookie of the year can be a good or bad things. Good news is you’re either living up to the hype as a top pick in the draft or you blew it our of the water in your first year and everyone was impressed with you. Bad news is you have set some high expectations for yourself in the future.
Most players who win the Calder have gone on to have incredibly successful careers, individually or otherwise. Take 2005-06 winner Alex Ovechkin who captained his team to a Stanley Cup and is one of the most elite goal scorers of all time. Patrick Kane, who has won 3 cups of his own and was recently voted to have the best stick handling in the NHL 13 years after he won the Calder.
All of these rookie of the year winners from after the lockout season are still in the league minus one, do you know who it is?
Steve Mason (the only goalie on this list) had himself a decent career in the NHL, after his impressive start in Columbus he didn’t quite live up to the billing and was shipped to the Flyers where he had some great season with his best one being when he averaged a 2.25 GAA and .928 SV%. He ended his career in Winnipeg playing 13 games for the Jets.
