Derek Stepan: Calder Candidate

When all is said and done he may not get significant attention but Derek Stepan deserves Calder consideration…if he maintains his play. While this year’s Calder may be heading toward a goaltender (think Bobrovsky, Neuvirth and Lindback) there are a few worthy skaters making waves this season and the Rangers young center doesn’t need to hide behind any of them.

While the Sharks’ Logan Couture has 18 goals – fourth in the league – he is playing on a power house team. With Jeff Skinner playing a key role for a middling Carolina team and Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall trying to take Edmonton back to respectability it’s Stepan who has played a range of roles for a re-building franchise while playing considerably less minutes per game than the four freshman skaters named above. What’s more, Stepan has a better plus/minus than the rest of the top 5 rookie scorers aside from Couture, displaying his now well documented maturity playing well both ends of the ice. Stepan has gained the trust of Tortorella through his play and is showing excellent consistency since his brief dip in play earlier in the year.

Perhaps the most interesting issue worth monitoring is whether Stepan can avoid the college brick wall which many NCAA players hit when going to the longer season (Matt Gilroy faced this last year). The other rookie scorers all played the longer junior schedule while Couture has an additional season of pro hockey (split between the AHL and NHL) already under his belt. Stepan is on course for 22 goals as a rookie and over 40 points. If he can avoid that college brick wall he may get more than 40 as his game and consistency has come on as the year has gone on. Not only that, despite his good college career, Stepan is doing all this as a less heralded player than those around him in the statistics. Taylor Hall went first overall, Logan Couture was top 10 in the draft, as was Jeff Skinner in 2010, and even Eberle was a first round pick – Stepan is the only player of the five forwards that wasn’t a first rounder making his immediate NHL impact even more impressive. Then there’s the goalies, Neuvirth and Bobrovsky are both playing behind legitimate cup contenders making their acclimatisation much easier. Imagine the numbers Lundqvist -as a freshman – might have put up had he played in front of Pronger and Timonen instead of the likes of Jason Strudwick and Thomas Pock.

All this boils down to giving Stepan the due he deserves. His play warrants Calder consideration and if he keeps it up there’s no doubt he’ll be in the mix come the end of the year. It would be pretty appropriate if, in the Rangers transition year, it was to culminate in a rookie of the year award. Here’s hoping.

By the way… Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Draft Watch: Jeff Skinner

The Rangers have the tenth overall pick in the draft, and while some writers think the Rangers will draft a goalie (for some unknown reason), the Rangers most pressing need at the NHL level is a scorer. In the fourth installment of this series (Nino Niederreiter, Ryan Johansen, Vladimir Tarasenko), we look at a young center playing on the Kitchener Rangers (OHL), Jeffrey Skinner.

The 5’10 195 lb center has put together a solid season with Kitchener, putting together a line of 50-40-90, with 72 PIMs in 64 GP during the regular season, and 20-13-33 with 14 PIMs in just 20 playoff games. Skinner, currently ranked #9 in the ISS top 30, established himself as one of the top snipers in the OHL this year, and finished this season with more goals than both Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, the projected #1 and #2 picks in this year’s draft. Skinner’s ability to lurk in the offensive zone and capitalize on opportunities certainly helped him become this dangerous in the OHL. A very intelligent player, Skinner also excels at playing a two-way game in the OHL.

Despite the fact that he finished with more goals than Hall and Seguin, Skinner has a lot of doubters, and an equal number of questions coming his way. He can score, but his skating ability, particularly his speed, is constantly being called into question. However, his strength on his skates and his agility definitely make up for his lacking speed at this level. He finds open ice in the OHL with relative ease, but will struggle at the next level unless he becomes a faster skater. Also, like most small forwards, there is always a question of his ability to adjust to the physicality of the NHL game.

Skinners coach compares him to Mark Recchi (Insider Only):

“Recchi is still in the league because of his skating and his strength, and Jeff is a Recchi-type player for me. He’ll have the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup because of the way he plays.”

Recchi is one of the best forwards to play this game, netting over 500 goals and almost 1,500 points, so if Skinner turns out like that, any team that drafts him will be thrilled. But to meet that potential, he is going to have to work on his skating, while continuing to put the puck in the net. His shot is his meal ticket, which might just get him into the top ten.

Photo Credit: Walt Dmoch, OHL Images