Two men referred to as unanimous number one selections in two consecutive seasons.  Two players who combined for a total of 208 points in their first season in the National Hockey League.  One of these men is Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the number one overall pick of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, an 18 year old rookie who surpassed local town hero Mario Lemieux for total points in a rookie season.  The second man is Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, the number one overall selection of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, who finished third in goals scored and total points among all rookies in the history of the NHL.  Two rookie phenoms, yet only one will be awarded as the Calder Memorial Trophy winner.  It hardly seems fair.

What is the Calder Memorial Trophy, and who is it named after?

Each year, the rookie of the year for the current NHL season is awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy.  The Calder Memorial Trophy is named after Frank Calder, who was the president of the National Hockey League from the year 1917 until he passed away in 1943.  The Professional Hockey Writers' Association vote each year to determine the winner of this award.  In 2006, the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy will be announced on June 22^nd.

Who has been nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2006?

This season, three players have been nominated as finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy, and they are Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, and Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames.  All in all, the player that emerges victorious from this trio will join the a list including many famous hockey professionals who won the Calder Memorial Trophy such as Bobby Orr (1967), Tony Esposito (1970), Ray Bourque (1980), Mario Lemieux (1985), Brian Leetch (1989), Ed Belfour (1991), Pavel Bure (1992), Teemu Selanne (1993), Martin Brodeur (1994), Peter Forsberg (1995), Sergei Samsonov (1998), and Scott Gomez (2000).  The most recent winner of the award came in 2004 (there was no winner in 2005 due to the lockout), when Boston's Andrew Raycroft was awarded with the Calder Memorial Trophy.

As a result of the recent NHL lockout, which eventually resulted in the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season, the two top picks of the past two year's NHL drafts are now in a battle for the Calder Memorial Trophy.  Alexander Ovechkin was drafted by the Washington Capitals with the first pick of the 2004 NHL draft, while the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Sidney Crosby with the first pick of the 2005 draft.  Both players shined in their rookie seasons, and now will be in a tight race for the top rookie award, along with Dion Phaneuf, a rookie defenseman for the Calgary Flames. 

No offense to the rookie Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf, as he posted a solid first season for the Flames.  No doubt Phaneuf had many contributions to a Calgary team that made the playoffs, but was ousted by Anaheim in a dramatic opening round series that went to seven games.  However, when it is all said and done, this award is going to be given to either Crosby or Ovechkin, as they are no doubt the rookies that stole the show in the NHL this year. 

To further analyze who deserves to earn Calder Memorial Trophy as the most valuable rookie of the year, one could look at the categories of individual performance among current NHL rookies, individual performance among all NHL players, team performance, head-to-head performance, and clutch performances.

Individual performance among current NHL rookies

Crosby and Ovechkin were both expected to have solid rookie years in the NHL, however both players likely exceeded expectations this season.  Ovechkin, who is also a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson award, was the second player in NHL history to have 50 goals and 100 points in his rookie season (Teemu Selanne had 76 goals and 100+ points during the '92-'93 season).  Meanwhile, the 18 year-old Crosby became the youngest player to break the 100 point barrier, scoring 39 goals and having 63 assists in his rookie campaign.  Overall, here is a breakdown of the three rookies nominated for the Calder Memorial Trophy, featuring four statistical categories.

PLAYER	GOALS	ASSISTS	TOTAL POINTS	SHOTS ON GOAL
Ovechkin	52	54	106	425
Crosby	39	63	102	278
Phaneuf	20	29	49	242

Phaneuf had a solid debut season as a defenseman for Calgary, and ranked sixth overall among rookies in total points, with 49.  Besides Ovechkin and Crosby, Brad Boyes of the Bruins, Jussi Jokinen of the Stars, and Marek Svatos of the Avalanche all finished with more total points than Phaneuf.  Offensively, and as future stars for their teams, Ovechkin and Crosby were ranked first and second among rookies in total points, almost sixty points higher than Phaneuf.  Compared to Crosby, Ovechkin ended the year with 106 points, and had almost 150 more shots on goal. 

ADVANTAGE: Alexander Ovechkin

Individual performance among all NHL players

When compared to all of the players in the NHL, Crosby and Ovechkin both still were near the top of the list statistically.  Obviously, if Ovechkin is slightly ahead of Crosby statistically among rookies, then he is overall slightly ahead when compared to everyone else in the NHL.  However, you can compare for specific categories, including goals, assists, total points, plus how each player's statistics are compared to other players who play the same position (Crosby plays center and Ovechkin the left wing position).    

NHL 2005-2006 Season Leaders in Goals

PLAYER	TEAM	GOALS
Jonathan Cheechoo	Sharks	56
Jaromir Jagr	Rangers	54
Alexander Ovechkin	Capitals	52

NHL 2005-2006 Season Leaders in Assists

PLAYER	TEAM	ASSISTS
Joe Thornton	Sharks	96
Jason Spezza	Senators	71
Jaromir Jagr	Rangers	69
Marc Savard	Thrashers	69
Brad Richards	Lightning	68
Nicklas Lidstrom	Red Wings	64
Sidney Crosby	Penguins	63

NHL 2005-2006 Season Leaders in Total Points

PLAYER	TEAM	POSITION	TOTAL POINTS
Joe Thornton	Sharks	C	125
Jaromir Jagr	Rangers	RW	123
Alexander Ovechkin	Capitals	LW	106
Daniel Alfredsson	Senators	RW	103
Dany Heatley	Senators	LW	103
Sidney Crosby	Penguins	C	102

Ovechkin was third in goals scored this season, with only San Jose's Jonathan Cheechoo and New York's Jaromir Jagr ahead of him.  As for Crosby, he ranked seventh in the league in assists, behind a number of players including San Jose's Joe Thornton, who almost made it past the 100 assist barrier.  Furthermore, Ovechkin led all players at the left wing position with 106 points, while Crosby was second to Joe Thornton at the center position.  After searching through the statistics, one could generally state that Ovechkin has the slight advantage here.

ADVANTAGE: Alexander Ovechkin

Team and head-to-head performance

Overall, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins both struggled this season, but many critics expected them to as each are currently developing young talent and trying to rebuild their respective hockey programs.  While the St. Louis Blues had the worst record in the NHL season (57 points), both the Capitals and Penguins were not far behind.  In fact, Washington and Pittsburgh had the two lowest team point totals in the Eastern Conference, as Pittsburgh posted a conference low 58 points and Washington finished with 70 points.  With similar talent surrounding them, it appears that Washington (29-41-12) benefited slightly more with Ovechkin compared to Pittsburgh (22-46-14), who finished twelve points lower on the season.   However, head-to-head, the Penguins defeated the Capitals 3-1 during the season series.  In the four games against Pittsburgh, Ovechkin had three goals and three assists against the Penguins.  On the other hand, Crosby had three goals and six assists against the Capitals.  Therefore, you could say the battle between Ovechkin and the Capitals and Crosby and the Penguins is basically a wash, with maybe the slightest advantage going to Crosby due to how he and his team performed against Washington during the season

ADVANTAGE: Sidney Crosby

Clutch performances

On many occasions during the 2005-2006 season, both Ovechkin and Crosby helped their team win in many different ways.  Statistically, the categories of power play goals (PPG), short handed goals (SHG), power play assists (PPA), and game winning goals (GWG)    are good  measuring points for clutch performances in the NHL.  Here is how Ovechkin and Crosby compared in these categories during each of their rookie campaigns:

PLAYER	PPG	SHG	PPA	GWG
Ovechkin	21	3	31	5
Crosby	16	0	31	5

As you can see, both players performed well in clutch situations, but Ovechkin performed slightly better, with five more power play goals and three more short handed goals.

ADVANTAGE: Alexander Ovechkin

Who will raise the Calder Memorial Trophy

All in all, both Crosby and Ovechkin are deserving of this award, and it is a shame that one of these two players will finish second in the voting.  If not for the NHL lockout, it is very likely that Alexander Ovechkin would have been named the rookie of the year in 2005, while Sidney Crosby would have won the award this season.  It almost seems unfair that one of these players will be losing this competition, even though I am positive that each of the two players will tell you that team performance and unity comes first. 

When it is all said and done, I believe that Alexander Ovechkin will win the Calder Memorial Trophy award, and become the first member of the Washington Capitals to ever win it.  However, we will not find out the official winner until the award is presented on June 22^nd, which is still over a month away. 

Until then, the decision shall be left "on ice".