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***By-Tor*** · 05-05-2021, 01:43 PM

It getting late in the season and you know what that means: awards. Let's check in on the Esa Anrikkanen Trophy race for the season's top rookie. As always, it's hard to judge rookie performance since the production numbers aren't always there. But for some rookies, that's not the case.

Here's my top 4 overall up to this point in the season:

1. NeverBrokeAgain YoungBoy (LD)(11 G, 22 pts, 80 SOG, +9.7 relative Corsi, 62 grade) NBA YB is by far the defenseman with the best offensive numbers. Honestly, there's no weak point in his game right now.
2. JJ James Jamerson Angler (RW)(11 G, 22 pts, 43 hits) Angler leads Maine in goals and points as a rookie. Very impressive.
3. LaTrell Mcdonald (RW)(17 G, 25 pts, 21 +/-, 13:32 ATOI) Mcdonald is riding a potent Anchorage offense to the moon. With 25 points in 13.5 minutes a game, LaTrell is really putting up the numbers.
4. Lev Lebedev ©(14 G, 24 pts, 41 blocks, +4.9 relative Corsi) Lebedev is firing on all cylinders for a so-so Vancouver team. A very solid game overall.

In my opinion, the race is between these four. Another could vault into contention, but all of these players have very good resumes to grab the hardware at this point in the season. For reference, last year's winner, Alexander Balcers, finished with 32 points, +8.7 relative Corsi, and a 68 overall grade as a defenseman to win the award. While there are some decent rookie goalies, I think the skaters take the trophy this year barring a standout performance down the stretch.

Will a defenseman win for the third year in a row? Will a forward win for the first time since S55? Time will tell.

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