Brandon Bochenski - Darkhorse Calder Candidate?
 

Mr. Bochenski seems to be in the process of securing his spot on the Ottawa Senators. Not just any spot, mind you, but a spot on the Spezza - Heatley line. So far in the preseason, Bochenski has 2 goals and 2 assists in 2 games. The guy is an average hockey player with a wicked shot, instantly reminding me of Brett Hull.

So, assuming Bochenski manages to stay on that line, I think he has a great chance to put up a monster rookie season. Perhaps even to the point of winning the Calder trophy, though it will be difficult to get past Crosby and Ovechkin.

Anyone else have any thoughts on Bochenski?

I think he's definitely got a shot to be one of the 3 Calder nominees if he sticks with that line. It's going to be tough though, because this year's rookie class is the strongest it's ever been. But it's anyone's trophy. No one thought Ryder, Raycroft, and Hunter would be as good as they are.

He'll be what? At best a 3rd liner in Ottawa this year? Crosby an Ovechkin are going to be getting 20 min a game plus power play. Not gonna happen.

No, he'll be on line 1a playing with Heatley and Spezza.

Its Crosby - politics will not allow anyone else.

Dark Horses: Ovechkin, Carter, Phaneuf

OH yeah lets bring out the excuses way ahead of time. :shakehead

If both Crosby and Bochenski get first line minutes, they will hit the wall eventually near the All-Star break IMO. With that said:


NHL Awards done Emmy style.....
And the winner is....

Sidney "Mother ****in'" Crosby!

(bouquet of roses thrown, and Crosby autographs Dolly Parton's boob on stage)

I had to think of a big boobie.

Did you read my post? Or are you simply dense?

no he doesnt, people take pre season way to seriously, 2 years back Nathan Perrot led the leafs in scoring in preseason and by a fair margine.

He'll have to put up absolutely monster numbers to beat out Crosby, Ovechkin, etc. While he will be on a great line, so will Crosby. Another major question is if he will get the powerplay time on the first unit. His shot would be a valuable asset, but, I don't see him staying on the first unit over Havlat. The only way that would happen is if they decide to go with a more balanced approach over the to PP units, which I know I wouldn't want to see.

He may make some noise, but, at the end of the day, it's Crosby's to lose. Crosby will be a scoring machine this year, and Bochenski is just one of plenty of guys that will give him chase. I think the best he could hope for is a nomination, or a birth on the rookie all-star team

It could happen, but I doubt it. Tie Domi could rack up points being beside those two.

It's not so much his pre-season performance, rather than the fact that he has the inside track on the top line. It's essentially his spot to lose on this point, which is an incredible accomplishment, given how little hype he was given.

Tie Domi could believe me, Wade Belak on the other hand......

He will be on the first line, but so will rookies like Crosby, Ovechkin, Carter, Vanek, possibly Michalek, etc.

Then there is Phaneuf, Suter, and other defensive prospects.

Don't forget goaltenders like Lehtonen, Toivonen, and Ward.

I think that Bochenski will have no shot at the Calder trophy, mainly because of the competition.

I agree - and if he sticks with that line, then he will probably see PP time with them, as that was what Murray had suggested that he wanted to do with the lines this year. I wouldn't go comparing him to Brett Hull just yet, but the thread is about Bochenski as a darkhorse Calder candidate, and I see no reason why he might not be considered as such if he earns that spot on the line with Spezza & Heatley. Nobody really suggested that he was going to win the Calder.

Again I agree - the competition is as stiff as its ever been, but you still have to put up the points - the Calder isn't given out based on potential, draft position, or hype. And most of those other players aren't going to be playing with guys like Spezza and Heatley. I'll list Lehtonen, Crosby, Ovechkin and Carter as inside favorites, but if Bochenski lands that roster position, I'd say he has a solid shot at being a 5th on that list of possible candidates. Again, we're talking darkhorse here...

Nobody is bringing out excuses -- the guy was drafted in the 7th round, and the question is whether or not he can be considered a darhorse candidate. I'd be ecstatic if that were the case.

As for the "competition", only Crosby and Ovechkin are sure things to be in the running. Phaneuf, Carter, Suter, Vanek et al are no closer (or farther) to being a sure thing in the running at this point than Bochenski -- they've all achieved exactly the same things as NHLers.

I honestly believe that somebody who we don't expect (i.e. not Crosby, Ovechkin, Vanek, etc.) will win the Calder. There are always sleepers--if I asked you who would be Calder finalists last season Raycroft, Ryder and Hunter would definately not be the top 3.

If somebody like Bochenski was a finalist I wouldn't be stunned.

While I agree that sleepers do always emerge, the lock-out last year changes things a bit. The guys who would have been the top contenders last year (who might include Ovechkin, Carter and Phaneuf) are not here this time around, but a year better. There are so many guys who could have been rookies last year, that could really hit the ground running considering the extra development time they were given because of the work stoppage.

Bochenski defineatly is a dark horse.

With all the competition there'll be this year, we're talking about a pretty damn dark horse. Basically one that's on the verge of collapsing into an equine singularity from which no light can escape.

I wanna see Bochenski play atleast 20 games before making him a dark horse for the Calder, hoping he doesn't become another Jason King.

I can see Bochenski putting up numbers to match a lot of the other pale horses. But still, if they have to pick Calder finalists, and BB has 30 goals and 60 points, and all those other guys have comparable numbers, throw a couple of D into the mix too, all in all, Bochenski wouldn't get the nomination.

But I totally agree that he'll be among the rookie leaders. He might even be THE leader, which still wouldn't get him a Calder nomination. If he stays with Spezza all year. (And I don't know why on earth he wouldn't, because they click like glue.)

I think with the ice time Phaneuf is going to get in Calgary he'll be a dark horse. This kid is going to impress

It should be interesting if Crosby and another player have roughly the same statistics, who will win the Calder(would be even more interesting if the other player has a good plus minus and crosby doesn't).