After finishing tied for the rookie scoring lead (52 points) and second in goals (22), Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog captured the Calder Trophy at Wednesday night’s NHL Awards show.
The 19-year-old Swede beat out fellow rookies Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Edmonton) and Adam Henrique (New Jersey) for the honor. Landeskog did it on the strength of his plus-20 rating (tops among all Colorado players) while averaging 18:36 of ice time, most among all first-year forwards.
He was also one of just four rookies to average more than 1:20 per game on both the penalty kill and power play.
This marks the second straight season rookie of the year has gone to a forward. Last year, Carolina’s Jeff Skinner captured the award after posting 31G-32A-63PTS as an 18-year-old.
Landeskog becomes just the second Colorado player to ever win the award -- the first was Chris Drury in 1999. Of course, the franchise did celebrate a pair of Calders while in Quebec: Peter Forsberg won it in 1995 and Peter Stastny won it in 1981.