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The Calder Trophy finalists were announced on Thursday, and there was one obvious omission. Filip Forsberg was in the Calder Trophy lead for a majority of the season, but now that the voting is done he didn’t even find himself in the top three. Judging by his performance in Game 5 of the opening round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, he feels like he should have been in the running.
Forsberg led the Nashville Predators to victory, just as he has been doing all season long, when he scored the first hat trick in Preds playoff history. They ended up beating the Blackhawks 5-2 behind four third-period goals. Forsberg was obviously the best guy on the ice, and it is hard to say that today’s results don’t have anything to do with it.
The players who were nominated were very deserving. Johnny Gaudreau was one of the main reasons for the playoff run of the Calgary Flames. With Forsberg out of the running, it is likely he is going to be the eventual winner. The problem is, he was inconsistent this season. He scored four goals in his first two months, then eight in December. He followed up with three in January and February combined, but came back with seven in March.
Mark Stone, possibly the biggest surprise candidate in the top three, carried the Ottawa Senators to the playoffs towards the end of the season. Should he be looked at differently since he scored seven goals in the last six games? I think Stone deserves to be in the top three, but he won’t win the trophy.
Aaron Ekblad has a very good season, but he wasn’t as valuable as Forsberg. The Predators do not make the playoffs without him. The Florida Panthers didn’t make the playoffs at all. Ekblad grew throughout the season, but he just didn’t hit the level that Forsberg was on at times during the season.
The really sad part is it seems like the race between Forsberg and Gaudreau was going to go down to the wire as to who was winning the Calder. Now, it is almost a formality that the latter will win.
Forsberg will move on with his hockey life now that the Calder is officially out of his grasp. Either way, he showed that he has the ability to steal the show at any point. It should be interesting to see if he falls flat in Game 6, but for right now Forsberg is the hero of Nashville. Despite the lack of hardware, every Preds fan knows who the most valuable rookie was.
Nick Villano is the New Jersey Devils writer for Rant Sports. He also adds to the site’s NBA, MLB and NFL content. You can follow him on Twitter or add him to your Google circle.
