Chicago Blackhawks: Three potential 2021 NHL Award winners
Calder Trophy
94. . G. Chicago Blackhawks. Kevin Lankinen. 32. player
There is no doubt that the most important position in hockey is a goaltender. Of course, you need your franchise centers, franchise defenseman, and a good offense in order to win the Stanley Cup but if you don’t get good goaltending, you won’t win. The Blackhawks started 0-3-1 after giving up five goals in each of those four games. After that, Jeremy Colliton made the decision to start Kevin Lankinen.
Lankinen has come in and been everything that the Hawks need so far this season. He has assumed the role of the number one goalie with his play and it is well deserved. He has a 2.49 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. Considering that the league average so far this year is a .905 save percentage, you can say that Lankinen has been really good.
As good of a coach as Jeremy Colliton has been and as good as Patrick Kane has been on the ice, this team would most likely be nothing without Kevin Lankinen as well. His numbers are honestly good enough right now to win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie but that probably isn’t going to happen.
Hot. Dominik Kubalik leads the Blackhawks to victory. light
The Calder Trophy is much more in his reach right now. He has a few teammates that might get top-ten votes like Ian Mitchell and Pius Suter, but the big competition comes from Ty Smith of the New Jersey Devils and Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild. All of these guys are awesome and will be fun to watch for the next decade or more.