STANDARD: Rookies who you expect to have the best career. A rookie is someone who was on the NHL roster most of the year for the first time in his career.
This is only for the post-lockout era since we had hardly any rookies prior to that.
2005-06: Henrik Lundqvist, Fedor Tyutin, Blair Betts, Petr Prucha, Ryan Hollweg, Marcel Hossa. Argument for: Six total players, of whom Lundqvist is an All-Star, and Tyutin and Betts are solid.
2006-07: Colton Orr, Thomas Pock. Arguments for: No argument, these two are weak.
2007-08: Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Nigel Dawes, Steve Valiquette. Arguments for: Six players, including our top defensive pair (Staal-Girardi) plus our top two scorers this year (Callahan and Dubinsky) plus a useful backup for a few years, and then there's Dawes.
2008-2009: Lauri Korpikoski. Arguments for: Korps is becoming a solid player, but nothing that completes with other years.
2009-10: Michael Del Zotto, Artem Anisimov, Brian Boyle, Matt Gilroy, Enver Lisin. Arguments for: I still believe MDZ will turn into a top-shelf offensive defenseman, and Anisimov is going to be a second liner, while Boyle will be a very good third liner.
2010-11: Michael Sauer, Ryan McDonaugh, Derek Stepan, Mats Zuccarello. Arguments for: Sauer-McD are now our second pairing, immediately after making the NHL. They are a key building block. Stepan will be at least a second liner, but I'm hopeful that he'll be a first liner. I also think Zucca will carve out a future for himself as a second line winger.
I go 05-06, because Girardi was technically a 06-07 rookie. 34 regular season games and 10 in the playoffs
We have to have one standard for all. Otherwise, everyone will get confused.
My standard was: first year where the player spent more time in the NHL than the minors. In 2006-07, Girardi spent 34 games in New York and 45 games in Hartford. Even with the playoffs, he still spent a little more time in Hartford than in New York. That's why I put him as a rookie in 2007-08.
Judging just on Rookie years it has to be 05-06. 07-08 may have more players as part of our "core" - but they didn't have phenom. rookie seasons. When Hank and Prucha came through everyone was blown away.
Hank as a rookie goes 30-12-9.
Prucha scores 30-17-47.
Plus.. Hank is our team in a nutshell, we live and die by his play with few exceptions.
Tough choices but went 07-08. It produced our top pairing on D, two second line 2-way forwards, our future captain as well as potentially our 2 A's ( Cally,Staal, Dubinsky) Even if that's now how the leadership letters unfold, for that rookie class to have produced the core of our leadership was too hard for me to vote against.
I am surprised this year is getting more votes than 2005-06. Tyutin is at least as good as Sauer, maybe better, and Lundqvist is more valuable than Step+McD as far as I'm concerned.
It's OBVIOUSLY 07-08. Not sure how this is even a thread/poll. Our first pair of defenseman who this year IMO established themselves as one of the best shutdown pairs in the league, Dubinsky (our leading scorer) and Callahan (our future captain).
It's OBVIOUSLY 07-08. Not sure how this is even a thread/poll. Our first pair of defenseman who this year IMO established themselves as one of the best shutdown pairs in the league, Dubinsky (our leading scorer) and Callahan (our future captain).
It's a thread/poll because almost half the people are picking other years. It's also interesting to look at rookies year-by-year.
Wait, please explain the criteria again. Is it based on how rookies performed in that year or their overall potential impact on our organization (or any team in NHL)?
If it's former (based on how players performed in their rookie year), then it's between Lundquist/Prucha and Sauer/McD/Stepan. If later then Staal/Girardi + Cally/Dubi should be it.
Wait, please explain the criteria again. Is it based on how rookies performed in that year or their overall potential impact on our organization (or any team in NHL)?
If it's former (based on how players performed in their rookie year), then it's between Lundquist/Prucha and Sauer/McD/Stepan. If later then Staal/Girardi + Cally/Dubi should be it.
The standard is their overall potential impact on an NHL team over the course of their career.
Okay, really, it's between 05-06, 07-08, and 10-11, with 09-10 as an honorable mention.
05-06 could win because of Lundvist's impact on the team alone - Tyutin is still a very solid NHLer, as is Betts, but the others are exiles in another league than the NHL. Hollweg and Prucha with the San Antonio Rampage, together. But, only Lundqvist impacts this team, so, I don't think it wins, due to the fact that Zherdev, who became a Ranger because of Tyutin, is gone.
07-08, IMO, could win this in a landslide. Callahan, Staal, Dubinsky, AND Girardi all in one season??? Now THAT is a rookie class. Your future captains (literally all 3, pretty much) and a warrior defensive defenseman. I have to vote for this one.
Although, this years rookie class was fantastic as well, and is a second, easily.
