This season, there is no clearcut leader in the race for Rookie of the Year in the EURO League.
When the season ends and we move onto the playoffs, the Websim system will ask you to vote for awards and you will see a ballot of five players for every award. The nominees are generated by the system and we GMs will have no input on who makes the list. But we do decide who takes home the trophies. If you don’t vote, your team’s vote will go to the player on the top of the list (at least that’s what I understood long ago and I don’t think that’s changed.)
Unfortunately, a fantastic defensive player who doesn’t score many points will probably be left off the ballot. For these awards, like in real life hockey, points matter; even for the Websim’s version of the Selke Award for top defensive forward. That doesn’t make much sense, but oh well.
We don’t anticipate any rookie goalie making the ballot. Stuart Skinner, Isak Posch and Akira Schmid were the only ones who got decent playing time. And Kaiden Guhle of Amsterdam might be the only defenseman on the ballot. He did a good job of blocking shots and playing physical this season for the Ajax.
We predict that the ballot will have at least four young forwards – maybe five – on it. And they are all stacked tightly atop the rookie scoring race. Whoever gets listed first will have a distinct advantage. Connor Bedard of Prague would surely have that spot if he played at the beginning of the year, but since he joined the season about halfway in when he went from Websim prospect to player, he may not lead everyone in scoring.
But does Bedard even deserve the trophy? Of the top six rookie scorers, his shooting percentage was the lowest by far, and his turnover ratio (takeaways minus giveaways) is also the lowest. He gets points, to be sure, but if you are looking for the best all-around rookie, there might be better choices.
If all you care about is goals, then Cole Caufield of Kosice, Matt Boldy of Madrid and Samuel Bucek of Munich are your men. But which one gets your vote? All three of them have 14 goals this season.
Mason McTavish of Athens seems to check all the boxes. He leads all rookies in points, hits, blocked shots and takeaways. He is one of two good rookies playing for the Gods this season. Right wing Petteri Puhakka is still considered a rookie even though he played 16 games and had 12 points in Season 15.
If McTavish is the leader, it’s only by a razor’s edge. Boldy has more shots taken and the most ice time; Caufield has the best plus/minus rating and turnover ratio in the group.
Here is a current snapshot of the EURO League rookie scoring race:
Or there could be more than one winner. We found that out last season when Bern’s Timothy Liljegren and Milan’s Dominic Canic shared the honor. Here is a list of all the previous Rookie of the Year trophy winners:
