Awards ceremonies always are ripe for debate (don’t even get me started on The Shawshank Redemption losing out to Forrest Gump for Best Picture at the 1995 Academy Awards). The NHL Awards ceremony to be held on June 14 in Toronto certainly will not stray in that regard. Featured is Sidney Crosby looking for his first Hart Trophy against arguably the two best netminders in the league, Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo, four goalies nominated for the Vezina, and three outstanding rookies -- two of which are from the same team.

Let’s first examine the rookies nominated for the Calder (listed alphabetically):

Calder Trophy (most outstanding rookie): Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins; Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche

If there were one award with four finalists, it should be the Calder Trophy. Consider the following rookies who aren’t even nominated for the Calder:

Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles -- 61 points in 72 games and the face of the Kings franchise
Dustin Penner, Anaheim -- tied for second among rookies with 29 goals
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose -- highest +/- of Sharks defenders and all rookie blueliners

Stastny truly established himself in the Calder race once the calendar turned to 2007, amassing 50 points in 44 games while registering a point in a rookie-record 20 consecutive games from February 3 through March 17. Staal consistently wowed the Penguins, and then the entire NHL, by making the team out of training camp and constantly improving. The 18-year-old set a rookie record as he led the league with seven shorthanded goals and finished tied for second among rookies with 29 goals.

The Calder should go to Malkin, though, as he was the most dominating rookie from start to finish. The 20-year-old Russian was the highest rookie point producer in all but one full month he played (Stastny bested Malkin by three points in February), and he is only the fourth rookie to post better than a point-per-game average since the 1994-95 season.

Player, Team, Season...........Games.....Points....Points/Game
* A. Ovechkin, Was, 2005-06....81..........106........1.31
S. Crosby, Pit, 2005-06...........81..........102........1.26
E. Malkin, Pit, 2006-07...........78...........85........1.09
* P. Forsberg, Que, 1994-95....47...........50........1.06
(* - won Calder Trophy)

What might be a more interesting debate is which of these rookies, including the three players not even nominated, will have a better career in the NHL. That story hasn’t been written yet, as each of the six rookies mentioned should have long careers ahead of them.

Coming up tomorrow, the Hart Trophy finalists...