One player has taken a clear lead in the heated race for the 2024-25 Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie. The Philadelphia Flyers announced rookie forward Matvei Michkov has been named the NHL Rookie of the Month for the opening month of the NHL calendar.
The award likely came down to the wire with Montreal Canadiens’ Lane Hutson and Dallas Stars’ Logan Stankoven getting off to strong starts in their own right. Michkov still had the edge with four goals and nine points in 11 contests to begin his NHL career.
He’s also gotten off to an impressive start in the possession game with a 49.3% CorsiFor% at even strength. This metric adds even more credibility to Michkov’s Calder pursuit considering the Flyers are 24th in the league in the category with a 47.8% mark.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Buffalo Sabres could be getting a boost to their offense. Heather Engel of NHL.com reports forward Zach Benson is “for sure” a possibility next week. The Sabres’ youngster hasn’t suited up since October 19th due to a lower-body injury and there’s some indication he was playing through the injury toward the start of the season. He’s already skated in six games for Buffalo this year but went scoreless while averaging 14:10 of ice time per night. The Sabres’ coaching staff is hopeful that Benson’s full recovery can put his offensive output back on the right track.
- In worse news for the Sabres organization, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports Buffalo prospect Prokhor Poltapov has signed a two-year extension with the KHL’s CSKA Moskva. Poltapov was eligible to sign his entry-level contract with the Sabres at the end of the current KHL season but will likely stay through the 2026-27 KHL season. Buffalo drafted Poltapov with the 33rd overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft and the St. Petersburg, Russia native has seven goals and 16 points through 21 games to start the year.