It became official yesterday that Kirill Kaprizov is the Calder Trophy winner as the rookie of the year. The award was Kaprizov's to lose pretty much from the outset but the Wild star did not disappoint in his inaugural season.
Kaprizov led all rookies in goals with 27 and points with 51 in 55 games. Many of those 27 tallies were of highlight material and even when he did not light the lamp he was dazzling the Wild faithful with his amazing skill and creativity.
Kaprizov captured 99 of the 100 first place votes to win the award in a landslide over distant runner up Jason Robertson, of the Dallas Stars.
Robertson made a strong push to challenge Kaprizov finishing the season with 17 goals and a rookie leading 28 assists in 51 games. In the end it really was not much of a race though as Kaprizov's impact on the Wild combined with his league leading rookie stats proved the Russian forward to be the almost unanimous selection.
We can put the argument that Kaprizov was not truly a rookie, having played six seasons in the KHL prior to joining the Wild. The 2015 fifth round pick was worth the wait and the best most likely is yet to come from thw Russian sniper.