Who’s leading the Calder Trophy race?
Colby Cohen of ESPN and Daily Faceoff’s Morning Cuppa Podcast talks about the case for Macklin Celebrini or Lane Hutson. (1:49:57)
But before we get to Colby, we chat about the state of the San Jose Sharks at the 4 Nations break.
Why do Sharks fans need to prepare for some pain (read more 8-3 losses) for the rest of the season?
What’s one of the big differences between say, the .500 Anaheim Ducks and the Sharks? How much swagger can good goaltending give you?
What have we seen recently from Andrew Poturalski, Shakir Mukhamadullin, and Collin Graf? (29:08)
How are Keegan and Sheng feeling about whether the San Jose Sharks will deal Trade Deadline candidates Nico Sturm, Jan Rutta, Luke Kunin, Mario Ferraro, Alexandar Georgiev, and Vitek Vanecek? (55:01)
We also address the Noah Dobson trade rumors.
Igor Chernyshov, coming off shoulder surgery is off to a torrid start with the Saginaw Spirit with eight goals and six assists in just five games. What has Keegan seen from the San Jose Sharks’ 2024 second-round pick? (1:24:05)
And now, Colby Cohen! (1:49:57)
What are Cohen’s thoughts about Celebrini losing a bet to Will Smith and wearing a Boston College jersey?
A couple weeks ago, Colby had Lane Hutson leading the Calder Trophy race, does he still think that? What are Hutson and Celebrini’s cases for the Calder? (1:53:50)
Smith has had an up-and-down rookie campaign, how does Colby see it?
Also, Cohen sees the Celebrini vs. Connor Bedard the same way that he did in the summer! (02:14:00)
Thanks for watching!
13 Comments
NHL channel on Sirius radio this morning has Celebrini and Wolf (Calgary) 1 and 2. But if Calgary got in the playoffs they would lean towards Wolf.
I think Askarov can play another 7 or 8 games this season and still have fewer than 25 career games. Given his age, he would then still be a rookie next season. Which means the Sharks can win the Calder is 2024-25 with Celebrini and in 2025-26 with Askarov.
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Vegas odds for the Calder, as of 10 Feb 2025 are:
1. Celebrini, -0,230
2. Huston, +0,170
3. Wolf, +1,300
4. Michkov, +5,500
5. Stankoven, +15,000
5. Dobes, +15,000
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Schiefer is my first choice, but Misa is my second.
If Chernyshov has chemistry with Misa that ups his stock a bit too.
I figured Misa/Smith but Misa/Smith/Chernyshov could be the second line.
Misa seems to have a 200 ft. game, so a Celebrini and a Misa line would be defensive consciousness on the top two lines.
I'd still rather have Schiefer and Dickinson both fighting for top defense pairing minutes.
Maybe a 1A and 1B kind of thing, with them each getting a lot of minutes.
I think if Kunin was really planning on returning to SJ he would’ve re-signed for longer than 1 season this past offseason. Signing a short term deal that takes him to unrestricted free agency doesn’t scream “longterm Shark”. Sharks gain nothing by holding onto him at the deadline and Grier has said he needs to lookout for the future interests.
I've seen less than one period since he came back from the injury so can't really say but I seem to recall that he's described as having a powerful stride…don't know about his edges.
The thing to recall with the year that Michael Misa is having is that he's often had under agers on his wings this year that don't appear to be able to capitalize off Misa's brain. I think Chernyshov is unlocking Misa and showing you what Misa can really do when he has better line mates.
If the Sharks can't draft Schaefer then Misa or Hagens would be fine, maybe Martone after them.
Would Zetterlund, Kunin, the Dal 1st rd pick, and we take on one of the Islander’s bad contracts to give them cap space, not be enough for Dobson?
Dobson only has 1 year left on contract until he’s a UFA.
RFA this 2025 off-season, UFA 2026 offseason. Trading for Dobson comes with the risk of possibly not signing him long term. So you’re really just trading for the right to sign him first.
That shouldn’t command an astronomical price (right?), like it would if his contract had a couple years left on it.
I definitely would not trade Eklund or Smith for Dobson. I’m keeping our young studs if that’s the realistic price.
But I feel like Zetterlund, Kunin, Dal 1st, and we take a bad contract (or 2) should be enough to get it done, no?
*—> 4 for 1 *
(Imagine adding Dobson, Schaefer, and Nemec in one off-season.
We could set our top 6 D-men for the next decade this one off-season:
Schaefer-Dobson
Dickinson-Nemec
Muk-Cagnoni )
🤤🤤🤤
Sounds impossible.. but all you need is 2 trades to make that top 6 happen (Dobson & Nemec). It’s doable. 🙏 I believe in Mike G!!
So what's wrong to compare Chernyshov with Stone in the way they play. Prospects do this all the time at the Drafts Days. Sometimes sheng gets way ahead of himself.
In the KHL MHL Highlights here in YT you can see his actual Speed, which is.fine. So it probably has something to do with Game shape.
2:21:38 “Mike Grier should be manager of the year.”
Crazy statement considering the manager of the year has probably never gone to the team that is in dead last place in the nhl.
And I wholeheartedly agree!!
The way Colby laid it out and made the case for Mike G was perfectly elucidated. The reasoning he explained is 100% sound.
—> This is only Mike Grier’s 3rd season as GM. And the complete tear-down is already completed, and the team already has a franchise #1 Center, a franchise #1 Goaltender, (likely a franchise #1 Defenseman in a few months here), multiple high-talent/high-potential stars-in-the-making that are forming a fantastic very young core, all the same ages (Eklund, Smith, Dickinson, etc etc), cupboards stocked full to the brim of extremely highly valued draft picks, tons of salary cap space & flexibility (retentions begin falling off this off-season),
…. AND the rebuild is already beginning to make its turn from torn-down-to-the-studs —> into its upswing as a rising, progressing team.
And Mike Grier did all that in 2 and a half years!
And, he just keeps getting better & better…. this 24-25 season probably being his best as GM.
Mike Grier should be Manager of the Year!!
(and that’s saying something given the team’s ranking. But furthermore, it would be deserved )
People were saying when Chernyshov was drafted that he was basically getting defensive zone starts and PK in the KHL. I think he's going to be good defensively.
Graf & Zetts are the fastest skaters on the Sharks, maybe Cards 3rd 🥉
Do think Zetterlund is probably on the trading block. He fits what the Sharks want to do, but he's also a good enough player to make a difference (a + player on the team with the league's worst goal differential). Cost controlled as an RFA, so not a rental. Strikes me as a player who could fetch another 1st rounder, and maybe a bit more.
Michkov can also win the trophy.