Marc Dumont
The good news keeps coming for the Montreal Canadiens. Fresh off a tightly-contested series win versus the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the NHL Playoffs, Habs rookie Ivan Demidov has been named a finalist for the Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the best first-year player in the league.
Demidov, 29, finished the year as the highest scoring rookie in the NHL, with 19 goals and 43 assists in 82 games to his credit. He will be up against Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders) and Beckett Sennecke (Anaheim Ducks), two very solid freshman players in their own right.
This is the second consecutive season in which a Canadiens player is a finalist for the illustrious trophy, with phenom Lane Hutson having taken it home in 2024-25 after a jaw-dropping campaign that saw him produce 66 points on Montreal’s blue line.
It’s also the second consecutive season in which Demidov will be in the running to take home the Rookie of the Year award in a professional hockey league. He was awarded the KHL Aleksei Cherepanov Trophy in the KHL last year, the Russian equivalent of the Calder Trophy.
Montreal Canadiens Brass Tacks
Schaefer is considered the favourite to take home the trophy due to the fact that he’s an 18-year-old defenceman who somehow scored 23 goals, a ridiculous feat. He played big minutes for the Islanders, and was even in the mix for a role with Team Canada at the Olympics.
As for Sennecke, he also enjoyed a 23-goal campaign, playing a second-line role for the surging Anaheim Ducks. The 20-year-old winger finished fourth in Ducks scoring, with 60 points.
Demidov was the most productive first-year player, but that won’t be enough to capture the trophy according to many analysts. Regardless, the fact that he was one of four rookies in the Canadiens lineup this season speaks to the team’s dedication to the rebuild mantra, which favours youth exuberance over experience.
