Calder Trophy Watch: Vancouver Canucks' Quinn Hughes has earned his confidence

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      With Quinn Hughes turning heads on Vancouver’s blueline and pushing to become the third Canuck in as many years to get nominated for the Calder Trophy for best rookie, we will examine how the race is shaping up weekly.

      There hasn’t been a ton of great news for the Vancouver Canucks in their last three games. Consecutive losses to the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets have set the team back in the Pacific Division race.

      That a Canuck player may have emerged as the frontrunner for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie isn’t much of a consolation right now, even if it’s true.

      In past seasons, that news would be enough to temporarily satisfy fans sitting with another losing campaign. But now, it’s merely a tertiary plot behind the fight for the Pacific Division and the looming hard decisions to make about goaltending.

      So, since those two things aren’t going particularly well, let’s talk about the battle for the Calder Trophy, as Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes seems to be gaining some real momentum against his main competition, Colorado Avalanche rearguard Cale Makar.

      Hughes himself seems to think so, telling The Hockey News that “especially the last 30 games I don’t know if anyone has been better than me.”

      It’s hard to disagree with that self-assessment.

      He was named the Rookie of the Month for February after putting up 15 points in 13 games that month. And, since we look at the race weekly, it’s worth pointing out that Hughes has two points in four contests this past week.

      Of course, he’s also been a minus-8 in those games. And that’s going to be the argument moving forward as it relates to Cale Makar’s case.

      Plus/minus is an extremely outdated stat, but it still carries some weight in certain circles. Makar also has two points this week (in three games), but he sat out tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

      If the Avalanche defender has another lengthy setback (he missed eight games earlier in the year), it’ll be Hughes’s trophy to win, that much should be clear.

      If not, Makar still has a slightly stronger points-per-game rate (.84 to .80 for Hughes) so that, along with his perceived stronger defensive play (whether it’s actually true or not), is enough to hold him as the slight favourite for now.

      One wonders, though, if Hughes will see some more ice time when the Canucks are leading games late. He didn’t see much action when the team was in that situation against Columbus last night. And we know what ended up happening there. 

      How close is it?

      As we mentioned, right now it still feels like Makar is the (very) slight favourite over Hughes. We’ll call it 52 percent for Makar to 48 for Hughes.