The San Jose Sharks getting the second pick overall in the NHL Draft was the big news on Monday night, but there was other news of note as well. The NHL used the draft lottery to announce the three finalists for the NHL Calder Trophy. Among them are Sharks’ rookie Macklin Celebrini and Gilroy native Dustin Wolf.
TOP ROOKIES! 👏
— NHL (@NHL) May 5, 2025
Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson & Dustin Wolf are your Calder Trophy finalists — awarded to the NHL’s most outstanding first-year player. #NHLAwards
Find out where the next wave of young talent might be going during tonight's #NHLDraft Lottery which is about to… pic.twitter.com/k14qihgZRx
The three finalists are the Montreal Canadiens’ Lane Hutson, Celebrini and Wolf of the Calgary Flames.
Left off the list was the Philadelphia Flyers’ Matvei Michkov, which led to a bit of an uproar from Flyers fans. This is what our friends at Broad Street Hockey said about Michkov and his season:
“Michkov had 26 goals and 37 assists for points in 80 games (remember the two games he was a healthy scratch?). He had eight power play goals and 17 points with the man advantage on an almost comically inept special teams unit. Michkov also had three game winning goals and three overtime goals in his rookie year. He led all rookies in goal scoring and tied San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini in points for second, three points back of rookie points leader Lane Hutson of Montreal. The Russian forward also was named NHL Rookie of the Month twice in 2024-25.”
If you want to see what the fans are saying, head over to our friends at Broad Street Hockey and take a look, though please be kind.
Dustin Wolf almost lifted Calgary to the playoffs
As for Celebrini’s competition, Gilroy’s Wolf came close to propelling the Flames to the playoffs. As we looked at in a previous post, it was going to take 30 wins or very, very close to it. That was mostly based on history and a trip to the playoffs would have been the little extra that might have pushed him to the top of the list.
While Wolf, had a very successful rookie season, it wasn’t quite enough.
The Flames was the first runner-up for the wild card spot in the Western Conference. While Calgary had the same number of points as the St. Louis Blues (who made the playoffs), the Blues had the tiebreaker.
Wolf, himself, finished the season with a 29-16-8 record. He had a 2.64 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. According to MoneyPuck, Wolf finished the season 22nd in the league in goals saved above expected with 11.9. He was better than Jake Oettinger, Frederik Andersen and Sergei Bobrovsky, all of whom are still in the playoffs.
While Wolf’s work was impressive, 30 wins seems to be a common thread among the goalies who have won the Calder in the past. What’s more, the next candidate had an even more impressive season.
Lane Hutson has a season for the record books
In early April, we looked at Hutson’s numbers and determined that if he continued on his pace and Celebrini continued on his, that Hutson would likely win. Neither player deviated from their scoring, and Hutson continued to climb in the history of rookie defensemen scorers.
By the end of the season, Hutson finished with 66 points (6 G, 60 A) in 82 games. Only three other rookie defensemen in NHL history have scored more points than Hutson. That means Hutson tied Phil Housley in rookie scoring and outscored players like Ray Bourque, Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom in his rookie season.
Conclusion
Yes, Celebrini had an impressive season, the best one for a Sharks rookie ever. Unfortunately, he went head-to-head with another rookie who had an even more impressive season. In the Calder Trophy race last season, Celebrini might have won. This season, it doesn’t look like he will.
