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Mason Earned Calder Trophy

Steve Mason's 2008-2009 rookie statistics: 61 G, 33 W, 2.29 GAA, 10 SO, .916 SV%.

Steve Mason was awarded the Calder Trophy for the NHL rookie of the year. He had worthy competition for the award, but a strong case was made for his choice. While his stats are excellent, he added intangibles that pushed his candidacy over the top. Appearing in 61 games after taking over for an injured Pascal Leclaire, Mason carried the team to the first playoff appearance for Columbus. The Jackets were in every game because Mason was a shutout threat on any given night.

Recent Calder Winners

2009 Steve Mason, Columbus
2008 Patrick Kane, Chicago
2007 Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh
2006 Alexander Ovechkin, Washington
2005 Lockout
2004 Andrew Raycroft, Boston
2003 Barret Jackman, St. Louis
2002 Dany Heatley, Atlanta
2001 Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose
2000 Scott Gomez, New Jersey
1999 Chris Drury, Colorado

Interesting perhaps only to me - contrasting organizations Pittsburgh and Detroit: the Penguins have ridden Calder winners (Lemieux and Malkin) to Cups. Despite the recent success of Detroit, they haven't had a Calder winner for 34 years. The last Red Wing Calder winner? 1965 - Roger Crozier, goalie.