The NHL announced the finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy ahead of the 2025 Draft Lottery. The award is handed out annually to the NHL’s Rookie of the Year. This year’s finalists will be Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, San Jose Sharks centerman Macklin Celebrini, and Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf.
The 2025 Calder Trophy race has been anticipated for years. Celebrini headlined a class full of rookie talent, and seemed deadset on a bid for the award after going first-overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. But his rookie year exceeded even optimistic expectations, as Celebrini managed to lead the Sharks in scoring with 63 points in 70 games – an 82-game pace of 74 points. He also recorded 25 goals on the year, making him the second rookie to reach that mark since Kirill Kaprizov in the 2020-21 season alongside Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, who recorded 26 goals.
Celebrini managed that scoring despite playing for a dismally low-scoring Sharks roster. San Jose ranked dead-last in scoring this season, with just 208 total goals – four fewer than the dismal Nashville Predators. It was the seventh-fewest total goals scored by a team since 2021, though a slight bump over the 180 goals San Jose totaled last year. That difference – 28 goals – can largely be chalked up to the impacts Celebrini made by seamlessly entering San Jose’s top center role. The Vancouver native won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s MVP last season, and both the MVP and ’Rookie of the Year’ awards in the USHL the year before. A title win here would continue his streak of lifting hardware at every single stop.
But a smooth and successful rookie flight won’t win Celebrini the award outright. Hutson offers formidable competition after scoring the fifth-most points from a rookie defenseman in NHL history. More impressive than that, Hutson’s 60 assists tie with Larry Murphy for the most ever recorded by a rookie defender. That is Hall of Fame company for the young Canadiens defenseman – an incredible mark given the fact that he wasn’t a first-round draft pick just three years ago. Hutson instead went 62nd overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, nearly out of the second round as well. He followed his draft selection with two standout seasons in college hockey, where he was named a Hobey Baker finalists in both seasons.
Through dazzling paths to the show, neither Hutson nor Celebrini had a tougher path to a starring role than Dustin Wolf did. Wolf was a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, selected just four picks before the end of the draft. Like Hutson, many docked his size and ability to play the position at a top role. But Wolf quickly began to silence critics when he turned pro in the 2021-22 season. He set a fantastic 33-9-4 record and .924 save percentage in the AHL that season, good enough to land the ’Baz Bastien’ Award as ’AHL Goalie of the Year’ in his rookie season. Even more impressive than that, Wolf improved on the feat in his sophomore season – recording a 42-10-2 record and .932 and again winning ’Goalie of the Year’. He became just the third goaltender to ever win the award twice, and the first to do it in back-to-back seasons.
Wolf split time between the NHL and AHL lineups last season, hampering his chances for a three-peat of the AHL title. But he could make up for that by winning NHL ’Rookie of the Year’ this summer. Calgary’s success this season seemed to hinge on Wolf’s ability to perform on a nightly basis – and their finish as the highest-scoring team to ever miss the postseason is a testament to his prowess. He finished the year with 0.224 goals-saved above-expected per-60. That’s to say, on a nightly basis, Wolf’s appearance in net afforded Calgary a 0.224 goal advantage – 21st highest in the league between Mackenzie Blackwood (0.248) and Jake Oettinger (0.188). While Celebrini’s impact on a desolate Sharks lineup, or Hutson’s rival of the record books, may warrant more acclaim – Wolf’s rookie year will cement his spot in the Flames lineup all the same.