The full slate of NHL awards for the 2025-26 season has been announced the ones that matter anyway.

So we're going to share our thoughts on them beginning with the Calder Trophy.

And this one is going to delight Hawks fans.

The nominees this year, Ivan Demadov, Matthew Schaefer, and Beckett Seneca from the Anaheim Ducks.

Good seasons for all three of these guys, 62 points for Demadov, 59 for Schaefer, 60 for Beckett, Seneca from the Anaheim Ducks. Good seasons for all three of these guys.

62 points for Demadov,

59 for Schaefer, 60 for Beckett Seneca.

Mario, where are you going with the Calder this year?

I mean, if you just want to go by counting stats,

that's one thing.

But I mean, it's Matthew Schaefer. Like the impact he had with the Islanders immediately,

what he did as a defenseman at 18 years old,

the minutes he logged, you know, just a historical season

as far as rookie defensemen go.

Like, for me, there's really no way you don't give it to him

i know seneca and demadov had had big contributions to their teams this year um but matthew shaffer

like lived up to being number one uh and jumping right into the nchl is that 18 year old defenseman

is extremely difficult and he passed with flying colors. So I think Schaefer is the whole run pick here. I don't think there's any doubt about that either. He was so impressive. And you know, you're looking at him like through the lens of history compared to some of the grades of all time. And you said it coming into the league as an 18 year old is really hard to do as a defenseman.

we've got a number two overall picking town.

Artem Lefshnov, we saw a lot of ups and downs with Schaefer.

I'm sure there were some downs, but nothing like that.

He is immediately one of the best defensemen in the league,

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