First and foremost, I must give the Colorado Avalanche a shout out for winning the Stanley Cup. Some like to say that they had an easier path than some other cup champions in years prior, but at the end of the day they faced off against a St. Louis Blues team who's cup winning core is still mostly intact. An Oilers team that has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on it each night, and then faced off against Tampa Bay… the team that won the last two Cups.

With that out of the way, this week I plan on looking at some of the rookie class from this season. I will be giving my thoughts on if they will be able to avoid the dreaded 'sophomore slump' that many rookies encounter going into their second season. And, for context, this may not be a list of players that are all 19-22 years old, whatever players were eligible for the Calder Memorial Trophy (league's top rookie) have been considered.

With the NHL regular season ending, Fantrax doesn't have the roster percentages showing currently so I will be omitting them for the foreseeable future! The positions listed for each player come from the official website of the NHL. With the contract years, I will be listing any UFA/RFA as just that and specifying what type of FA they are. Anybody who has a contract guaranteed for next season, I will be listing the number of years left that as if we have started next season. Sam Reinhart, for example, has three years remaining as of this moment, the remainder of this season, and then two more after this one.

#1) Moritz Seider – D – Detroit Red Wings

Contract: $863K – 2 Years remaining
Roster Percentages: 94.3% ESPN, 84% Yahoo

What better way to start off the analysis than by breaking down the player who just got awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy. Seider is what every fantasy owner is looking for in a player on defense, he fulfills most categories at an elite level. The Red Wings were the eighth worst in goal scoring this year, with an average of 2.77 per game they fell flat this year. The team is young, hungry, and looking to improve going forward. They have a solid foundation with guys like Larkin, Vrana, Raymond, and Seider in place, along with others as well. Seider emerged this season for 50 points; I'm not sure if anyone expected that or not but he quickly played his way into a top role on the Red Wings this season. He plays every situation imaginable – the power play, the penalty kill, the dying seconds of a tied game, you name it and he's on the ice. Seider is currently one of my favorite players to watch, he plays with a lot of snarl in his game which is rare for a younger player. As you can tell by the amount of hits and blocks that he has (just below two hits and blocks per game), he isn't afraid to do the dirty work that can sometimes win hockey games. He plays over 23 minutes a night at such a young age; he was relied upon heavily in Detroit this season and I don't think a new head coach coming in will ultimately change that. If anything, we should see Seider play even more, as a second-year player who is just coming off a 50-point season, along with how well he played everywhere else on the ice, he should see an increase in deployment overall. This team is also poised to eventually take a step in the right direction when it comes to the offensive side of the game, expect Seider to be a catalyst in that.

#2) Cole Caufield – RW – Montreal Canadiens

Contract: $880K – 1 Year remaining (RFA in the summer)
Roster Percentages: 49.7% ESPN, 51% Yahoo

One of the more critiqued players this season, after his time in the postseason with the Canadiens that saw them ultimately fall short to Tampa Bay, he too came out flat to begin the season. Once Ducharme got let go and St. Louis got brought in as the interim head coach, the rest of the league began to see Caufield's stats skyrocket. In the last 30 games of the season, he almost finished as a point a game, on a Canadiens team that finished dead last in the NHL. That is rather impressive for a 21-year-old kid. While the entirety of the Canadiens struggled this year, expect them to be better going forward. I don't want to say this season was an anomaly for the team, but nobody realistically should have expected a whole lot from this roster. Going forward though, you have a fresh start with the official hiring of St. Louis as the Canadiens's head coach, the roster is probably going to be tweaked under the control of Kent Hughes, and the team also picks first overall in the entry draft next week. I don't really foresee a player with the speed and skill of Caufield to ever slump across a whole season; I don't believe that is a wise bet to place. The team is evolving around him, and then consider how well he played to end the season under St. Louis behind the bench. Now he has that guidance for the entire season as opposed to the last 30 or so games. He is going to be the main threat on that team, and he has the skill to overcome the pressure that he is surely going to face from the opposition. I would not expect Caufield to face the dreaded sophomore slump.

#3) Matthew Boldy – LW – Minnesota Wild

Contract: $880K – 1 Year remaining (RFA in the summer)
Roster Percentages: 27.2% ESPN, 27% Yahoo

Now that Kevin Fiala has been officially dealt to the LA Kings, I now have some growing concerns when it comes to Matthew Boldy for this upcoming season. He had a small sample size this year of below 50 games, a points-per-game of 0.83, had a shooting percentage of over 13% (sure he's an accurate shooter, but that is also slightly higher than expected for a rookie), and towards the middle/end of the season he was often played with Fiala on the opposite wing. This creates two schools of thought, one being that with Fiala being off the team, Boldy can become the number two option behind Kaprizov. The other being that Boldy benefited from Fiala more than we thought at this point his career. I'm not sure which side I lean towards, but overall, I think it's important to remember that Boldy is still wildly talented. He was drafted 12^th overall just three years ago for a reason, and that reason is that he is an offensive player with a high ceiling. End of the day, with Fiala no longer being on the Minnesota Wild roster it is probably going to create a larger role for Boldy going forward. This could increase his overall ice time, points, shots, everything. I'm an optimistic person by nature and based on what I witnessed this year of his gameplay. I think he's going to be just fine, and realistically I don't think I want to bet against a player who is as dynamic as what he is.

#4) Dawson Mercer – C – Dawson Mercer

Contract: $894K – 2 Years remaining  
Roster Percentages: 3.4% ESPN, 5% Yahoo

As much as I love the playstyle of Dawson Mercer, a feisty forward with the versatility to play any of the three forward positions. He isn't fully known for his offensive skills, its his compete level, work ethic, and two-way ability that sets him apart from those in his age group. The Devils are in a bit of a weird spot with their forwards currently. They have four players who are all RFAs, those including: Jesper Boqvist, Jesper Bratt, Miles Wood, and Pavel Zacha. It's currently unknown whether the Devils are planning on bringing all four back or not. I bring this up because that is four forward slots that could be up for grabs across the lineup. The Devils also pick second overall in the entry draft next week, like I said, it isn't confirmed what they plan on doing with the pick yet. I don't believe it matters what they do with this draft pick, if they use the pick, they're likely taking a forward that has a higher offensive ceiling that Mercer. If they move the pick its because they're looking to acquire a player that can help them more now, and if that's the case then that player would be looking at playing a more offensive role. This could push Mercer down the depth chart a little bit, along with younger players making the roster out of camp like Alexander Holtz for example. The Devils have a complex roster makeup currently that has a lot of question marks top to bottom. With the number of concerns surrounding the roster in New Jersey and what direction they plan on taking in the immediate future, I don't think its wise to bank on Mercer breaking out this season. He has the identity of a middle-six player, but some view him as a top-six scoring threat currently and to me that is inaccurate. There are just too many question marks surrounding the forward core to allow me to believe that Mercer can truly take a full step forward next season.


Overall, we had a great rookie group this year and it truly was one of the more exciting ones in recent memory. Going forward in the next few years we have some really bright young players on the verge of becoming superstars, its just a matter of if they will actually get to that level or not!

If you want to have any questions answered or interact with me, please feel free to interact with me on the forums or in the comments of the articles, or on Twitter @JamieMolloy_DH.