Who cares what Cullen thinks? All hockey fans even including Flyers fans i'm sure along with 99% of the hockey media know that RNH is the Calder frontrunner at this point.
Some of you are getting way too worked up over one meaningless opinion.
Not that i agree with Cullen but Read has been terrific. What a find, i think he is a legitimate canidate. It's not unusual for a journalist to offer a dissenting opinion, saying RNH for the Calder isn't really a story.
In the end I still think that the main contender for the Calder this season will be Larsson even though he is out of the discussion for now. He had 1 A -6 over the first 10 games of the season, 1 G 4 A +3 over the last 10 games and is getting alot of ice time. Runners up will be A.Henrique (PPG last 10) and Landeskog both of which have seen more and more of 1st/2nd line duty and getting increased amounts of EV/PP ice time (although Landeskog is a bit behind for now).
All that said, none of these players or the players listed by Cullen are even close to RNH at this moment.
His reasoning is Read is on pace for being +40 apparently lol. +\- was voted the least useful individual stat in hockey by TSN's own panel last year in the Quiz. Oh the irony.
His reasoning is Read is on pace for being +40 apparently lol. +\- was voted the least useful individual stat in hockey by TSN's own panel last year in the Quiz. Oh the irony.
Great reasoning. Calder race this year will stand between Read PHI +41 pace, Eakin WSH +36 pace and Erik Gustafsson PHI +79 pace (I suppose Gustafsson should be getting recalled from the farm first.....)
People say lots of **** all year long... let's not get our collective panties in a knot. At the end of the season we'll see who is most deserving and who the voters choose. I think RNH is doing extremely well for himself and if continues to play like he has so far he'll do just fine for a LONG time to come and that's all that really matters.
Sure, the Calder is nice but that's just one small moment in time... it's how the players play and develop and contribute throughout their careers that actually matters.
Yeah, I know that a smaller size makes P/60 pretty weak, I just thought it would be easier to post a P/60 than say that Read has been playing really well with the minutes he's been given.
I didn't notice that behindthenet doesn't combine ES and PP properly, so I did it up real quick.
I've watched a handful of Philly games and Read has been great in almost all of them. Again, I know P/60 isn't a strong indication of play at this point in the season, but I thought it would add just a bit more credibility to my opinion than just saying, "I've seen Read and he's good".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Read should be competing with RNH based on P/60. I think he's easily in the top3 though and personally, I would have him in second and Craig Smith in third.
I've watched a fair bit of Philly as well and you are perfectly correct in suggesting he has played very well.
That said he is in a completely different league talentwise from our boy in my humble opinion. I think the the RNH is the clear Calder favourite, but Read could well have a year like Couture's and never really be out of the picture.
My guess is that this article is a bit of a "shock piece" with its origins in Bob Mac's earlier comment about Read being a potential Calder winner.
In the end I still think that the main contender for the Calder this season will be Larsson even though he is out of the discussion for now. He had 1 A -6 over the first 10 games of the season, 1 G 4 A +3 over the last 10 games and is getting alot of ice time. Runners up will be A.Henrique (PPG last 10) and Landeskog both of which have seen more and more of 1st/2nd line duty and getting increased amounts of EV/PP ice time (although Landeskog is a bit behind for now).
All that said, none of these players or the players listed by Cullen are even close to RNH at this moment.
Cullen is paid for eyeballs, and this creates eyeballs, we can all agree on that. Nugent-Hopkins is the favorite and leader right now, but it's painfully obvious that few people here have watched much of Read or the Flyers this season. He's in the conversation at this point in the season for sure.
I think Couturier should be in the running too. I think everyone at this point has to be a ways behind RNH, but in that 2nd group I see Smith, Larsson, Read, and Couturier as potential finalists.
Couturier is one of the top PKers on a decent Philly PK. He only has 8 points, but practically no PP time (0:23/game). Already regarded as a premier defensive C in the NHL at 18 years old - that's pretty good. Sadly for him, an equally gifted 18 year old defensive centre has 22 points in 21 games. Game set match RNH. But the debate for the 2 other "finalists" at this point in the year I think would be interesting.
I think Couturier should be in the running too. I think everyone at this point has to be a ways behind RNH, but in that 2nd group I see Smith, Larsson, Read, and Couturier as potential finalists.
Couturier is one of the top PKers on a decent Philly PK. He only has 8 points, but practically no PP time (0:23/game). Already regarded as a premier defensive C in the NHL at 18 years old - that's pretty good. Sadly for him, an equally gifted 18 year old defensive centre has 22 points in 21 games. Game set match RNH. But the debate for the 2 other "finalists" at this point in the year I think would be interesting.
Right now IMO:
RNH
Read
Smith
Adam
Henrique
Larsson
Are the only guys that should have any kind of horse in this race at this point of the season. The rest need to up their output significantly before they are even considered for the 2nd runner up.
__________________ Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated
Are the only guys that should have any kind of horse in this race at this point of the season. The rest need to up their output significantly before they are even considered for the 2nd runner up.
forgot about Adam and Henrique. But just based on his defensive game and PK work, and still an OK amount of points, I'd have Couturier in with that group.
forgot about Adam and Henrique. But just based on his defensive game and PK work, and still an OK amount of points, I'd have Couturier in with that group.
Not enough points. I'm not saying that I wouldn't trade guys like Henrique for him, however the Calder isn't about potential, it is about production.
Not enough points. I'm not saying that I wouldn't trade guys like Henrique for him, however the Calder isn't about potential, it is about production.
I have to think the bolded needs to be a carefully applied logic with some exceptions to the rule...If its not enough RNH is well ahead in points....(which it is).
The author was maybe going to "shock value"...but...thats a pretty bad trade-off for the credibility he just lost.
Yes. Maybe I expressed myslef poorly. The intention was to say that, at this moment, we don't even have to talk about contenders since it is only about RNH. That said, I think that two of the other rookies I listed will be 2nd and 3rd (again if nothing drastic happens during the next couple of months).
Not enough points. I'm not saying that I wouldn't trade guys like Henrique for him, however the Calder isn't about potential, it is about production.
I agree. I've watched a few Flyers games (friend is a hard core fan), and Couturier looks like a seasoned vet right now. Like I said, he gets no PP time compared to the other guys. He's only 4 ES Pts behind RNH. And he is on Philly's top PK unit. That is producing, just in a different way.
At any rate - I don't care all that much about Couturier, I just think he is having a very good year despite modest point totals. Looking at an all around game, should be in that 2nd tier of rookies.
I'm just thrilled we have RNH. And it's not even the points (though I like those). The stripping players of pucks, knocking Morrow on his butt, the defensive awareness, steady improvement on the dot...WAY beyond my expectations of the kid so far.
Who cares what Cullen thinks? All hockey fans even including Flyers fans i'm sure along with 99% of the hockey media know that RNH is the Calder frontrunner at this point.
Some of you are getting way too worked up over one meaningless opinion.
TSN is the "it" source for hockey analysis in Canada, so anything that is written or broadcast there is taken with a lot of gravitas. It's like if the Wall Street Journal wrote an article giving horrible financial advice. Yeah, you could just dismiss it and move on, but you probably wouldn't simply because of where you found it.
Great reasoning. Calder race this year will stand between Read PHI +41 pace, Eakin WSH +36 pace and Erik Gustafsson PHI +79 pace (I suppose Gustafsson should be getting recalled from the farm first.....)
