Trophy Tracker: Stankoven of Stars top choice for Calder as rookie of year

To mark the quarter mark of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its second installment of the Trophy Tracker series. Today, we look at the race for the Calder Trophy, given annually to the best rookie in the NHL as selected in a poll by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Logan Stankoven always was regarded as a prolific goal scorer throughout his amateur hockey career. But this season he's learning it takes time to hit that level as an NHL rookie with the Dallas Stars.

And that's fine, particularly since the 21-year-old forward has turned into quite the playmaker on the way to leading NHL rookies with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 17 games, the most points ever by a Stars rookie (since 1993-94) through the first 15 games of a season.

"Goal-scoring wise, he's still learning," Dallas forward Matt Duchene said. "It's really hard. I remember coming up my first year and how it took me a few months to really start scoring consistently. I've talked with him, he's a little bit frustrated with that part. I told him, 'Dude, you're a point-per-game guy in the NHL right now because of your playmaking.' I told him it's not about the puck going in, it's about producing and being an all-around good player for this team, which he's doing."

Stankoven is averaging 15:42 of ice time, up from the 14:40 he averaged in 2023-24 when he had 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 24 regular-season games. The jump in ice time and production has made him NHL.com's favorite for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year through the first quarter of the season.

Stankoven received 72 voting points (12 first-place votes) from NHL.com's 15-person panel. Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov was second with 51 points (one first-place vote), followed by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson with 32 points. Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf was fourth with 23 points (two first-place votes), and San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, was fifth with 20 points.

Dallas has a 54.8 percent shot-attempts percentage at 5-on-5 and a 66.6 percent on-ice goals-for percentage at 5-on-5 when Stankoven is on the ice. He's also averaging 1:59 of ice time on the Stars' top power-play unit.

"He's been a spark plug for us, plays fast, plays hard," Duchene said. "I haven't seen him play a bad game yet, and I'd find it hard to find somebody that deserves [the Calder] more than him at this juncture. The biggest thing for him as a young guy, and it's always the hardest, is being consistent. Since he's come up last year, there's very few games I remember thinking, 'He wasn't on it,' because he usually is."

Michkov scored an overtime goal in a 5-4 win at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday to become the youngest player (19 years, 341 days) in Flyers history to score in overtime, passing the mark previously set by Nolan Patrick (20 years, 136 days on Feb. 2, 2019).

The 19-year-old right wing is second among first-year players with 13 points (six goals, seven assists) and first with eight power-play points (three goals, five assists) in 15 games.

Michkov has scored in two straight games after being scratched from the previous two games.

"He's competitive, that's what we love about him," Philadelphia forward Travis Konecny said. "He brings all the other stuff to the game, the skill and that offensive mindset. But he also competes, and he hangs in there. He's trying to play on the other side of the puck the right way, contribute to all aspects."

Hutson leads NHL rookie defensemen in assists (10), points (10), even-strength points (six), power-play points (four) and average ice time (23:03) in 17 games.

"Lane doesn't take a shift off," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "I love the consistency in his compete level. He drives possession."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Logan Stankoven, Dallas Stars, 72 points (12 first-place votes); Matvei Michkov, Philadelphia Flyers, 51 (one first-place vote); Lane Hutson, Montreal Canadiens, 32; Dustin Wolf, Calgary Flames, 23 (two first-place votes); Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks, 20; Maxim Tsyplakov, New York Islanders, 16; Jackson Blake, 8; Justus Annunen, 3.

NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report