Nathan MacKinnon Wins NHL Rookie of the Year

Heading into the NHL awards there was a lot of debate over which players would be taking home hardware. Almost every trophy has been debated, except for the Calder trophy, there was only one real candidate for that award; Nathan MacKinnon. The Calder award is handed out to the rookie who has the best first season in the NHL with their respective club and for the 2014 Calder Trophy, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche did more than enough to take home the trophy. Tonight he was awarded the Calder Trophy for his amazing rookie year with the Avalanche.

The 18 year-old Nathan MacKinnon recorded 24 goals and 63 points in 82 games for the Avalanche while playing in every single game and breaking a record held by the great Wayne Gretzky. With a 13 game point streak, he was able set an NHL record for the longest point streak by an 18-year-old, the previous record was 12 games by Wayne Gretzky. When the post season rolled around, MacKinnon didn’t slow down. He put up 10 points in 7 playoff games during the Avalanches first round battle.

This season Nathan MacKinnon proved to many that he was the real deal and has the potential to be a very special player. His leadership, heart and goal scoring ability helped propel the Avalanche from the first overall pick in 2013, to the 2014 NHL playoffs. With the 2014 Calder Trophy, MacKinnon becomes the first ever player to win the award at the age of 18.

MacKinnon beat out Tampa Bay Lightning teammates rookies such as Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat in the Calder running and follows Gabriel Landeskog who won last years Calder Trophy. All 3 2014 nominees had tremendous NHL season, showing their skill and promising a bright future, however MacKinnon was able to bring his game to another level and as a result is skating away with the Calder.