Chicago Blackhawks: Dominik Kubalik will come in 3rd for Calder

Chicago Blackhawks forward Dominik Kubalik is nominated for the Calder Trophy.

The Chicago Blackhawks have had some nice rookies come in through the years, despite the team not being very good. Dominik Kubalik was the latest in that long line of good Blackhawks rookies and he is being rewarded for it. He is nominated for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie for his efforts. It was a great season for him in his first year and it was a lot of fun to watch.

Kubalik’s biggest accomplishment was when he scored his 30th goal of the season. Only Steve Larmer, Darryl Sutter, and Artemi Panarin were members of the Chicago Blackhawks to have 30 goals as a rookie. Kubalik became just the fourth which shows how nice his season was. Some other young players on the team struggled to repeat what they did the year prior so Kubalik was there to make up for some of it.

Kubalik is going up against Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. Unfortunately for Kubalik, one of those two is going to win it and the other is going to come in second place. Kubalik won the race between a few guys for that third-place spot and that is okay. Makar and Hughes are both defensemen who made major impacts on their teams so it is completely okay to finish just behind them.

Now for Kubalik, there can be some fun in the playoffs. The Hawks have their stars that you already know about but the depth on the roster is what will make or break their chances against the Edmonton Oilers. He needs to be able to score some goals and make some players around him better as he did in 2019-20.

There has been plenty of time to rest in between the pause and the resumption of the season so seeing how that helps or hurts him will be interesting. Kubalik looks like a bright young player that the Blackhawks are going to be able to keep around to score some goals for a while. Congrats to him for being nominated for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.