Ranking Every NHL Rookie of the Year (2000s)

Photo Credit: Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Zane Miller

9. Andrew Raycroft (2003-04)

Raycroft won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year in the 2003-04 season, scoring 29 wins, .926 save percentage and three shutouts in 57 games played for the Boston Bruins. However, Raycroft was the primary goaltender in just one other season after his rookie campaign, as he primarily played as a backup before leaving the NHL after the 2011-12 season, finishing with 113 career wins, an even .900 save percentage and nine shutouts in 280 games played.

8. Barret Jackman (2002-03)

One of the most controversial Calder Trophy selections, the rookie defenseman took the award by playing in all 82 games for the St. Louis Blues with an average ice time of 20 minutes per game, earning a plus/minus of +23 and collecting three goals and 16 assists in the process. Jackman played the vast majority of his career in St. Louis, having a career plus/minus of +54 to go along with an average time of ice of 19 minutes and 50 seconds in 876 games played. With blocked shots not officially being recorded until the 2007-08 campaign, numbers for that category are incomplete, though his career high beginning with that season was 153 blocks in 2011-12. A solid ‘stay-at-home’ defenseman throughout his career, Jackman retired after the 2015-16 season, scoring a total of 29 goals and 157 assists.

7. Dany Heatley (2001-02)

Heatley was awarded the 2001-02 Calder Trophy as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets), earning 26 goals and 41 assists. After being traded to the Ottawa Senators, Heatley contributed back-to-back 50-goal seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07, leading to him being named a first-team All-Star in the latter season in which he also put up 55 assists for 105 points. In addition to his time with the Thrashers and Senators, Heatley also played over 150 games for both the Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks, wrapping up his NHL career in 2014-15 with 372 goals and 419 assists for 791 points in 869 total games.

6. Steve Mason (2008-09)

Mason grabbed the Calder in 2008-09 while the goaltender for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as he nailed down 33 wins and 10 shutouts in 61 games for a save percentage of .916. In addition to the Calder, Mason nearly claimed the Vezina Trophy for the league’s best goaltender, finishing runner-up in the voting to Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. In a career evenly split between the Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, Mason collected 205 victories, 34 shutouts and a .911 save percentage in 476 career games.

5. Scott Gomez (1999-00)

Gomez earned the 1999-2000 Calder for the New Jersey Devils, with the Alaska native scoring 19 goals and 51 assists as he and the Devils went on to claim the Stanley Cup in his rookie campaign. Gomez nabbed another Stanley Cup ring in 2003 with New Jersey and played into the 2015-16 season, scoring 181 goals and 575 assists for 756 points in 1,079 games. Most of those games were with the Devils, though Gomez also had significant stretches with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.

4. Evgeni Nabokov (2000-01)

Nabokov wasted little time in making his presence known at goalie for the San Jose Sharks, as he won the 2000-01 Calder on the strength of 32 victories, a .915 save percentage and six shutouts in 66 games played. Nabokov’s most prolific season came in 2007-08, as he led the Sharks to 46 wins and six shutouts while getting a .910 save percentage. He was named a first-team All-Star for the only year of his career, and finished second in Vezina Trophy voting by a mere seven votes to legendary Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur. Retiring after the 2014-15 campaign, Nabokov earned 353 career wins, 59 shutouts and a .911 save percentage over 697 games, the majority of which were played with the Sharks, though another large chunk of games were with the New York Islanders.

3. Evgeni Malkin (2006-07)

Malkin took the Calder in 2006-07 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring an impressive 33 goals and 52 assists to help the team reach the playoffs for the first time since 2000-01. He wouldn’t have to wait long to manufacture his career-best season, as 2008-09 saw him provide 35 goals and a league-best 78 assists, taking the Art Ross Trophy in the process with 113 points. In addition, Malkin finished second to fellow young Russian forward Alex Ovechkin (who I’ll be getting to momentarily) in the Hart Trophy voting for league MVP. That wasn’t all, however, as Malkin dominated for 14 goals and 22 assists for Pittsburgh in the playoffs to capture his first Stanley Cup title along with the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

After coming in second for the Hart in 2007-08 and 2008-09, Malkin broke through to win it in 2011-12 after scoring 50 goals and 59 assists for 109 points on the season. Not only did he win another Art Ross title for the Penguins, but he was also selected for his third first-team All-Star award. Though he wasn’t come close to winning another major offensive award since, Malkin continued to be an invaluable presence in the Penguins’ lineup for years to come. Nowhere was this more evident than in the 2016 and 2017 playoffs, as the Penguins secured back-to-back Stanley Cup titles with Malkin as a key player. Going into his 20^th season in the NHL (all of which with the Penguins), Malkin has all but cemented his future Hall of Fame status with 514 goals and 832 assists for 1,346 points in 1,213 career games, winning three Stanley Cups in the process.

2. Patrick Kane (2007-08)

Speaking of future Hall of Famers, the first overall pick of the 2007 draft by the Chicago Blackhawks proved himself worthy of the selection with a Calder nod in 2007-08, scoring 21 goals and 51 assists. In 2009-10, Kane won his first first-team All-Star selection with 30 goals and 58 assists for 88 points to match his jersey number, though his biggest prize of the year occurred in the playoffs as he guided the Blackhawks to a Stanley Cup title in 2010, ending a 49-year drought for the franchise. Kane reliably contributed between 60-70 points for the next several seasons, but his most important contributions were saved for the postseason. In 2013, Kane took home the Conn Smythe award with nine goals and 10 assists for Chicago, who won the Finals in six games. In 2015, Kane nabbed his third Stanley Cup ring with the Blackhawks, leading all postseason players in points with 23.

Though the Blackhawks’ run of championships came to an end after 2015, Kane still had some excellent seasons left in him, including his Hart Trophy year in 2015-16 where he pocketed 46 goals and 60 assists for a league-leading 106 points, earning him the Art Ross Trophy as well as another first-team All-Star pick. He secured another first-team All-Star in 2016-17, scoring 34 goals and 55 assists. Though he has since moved on to join the Detroit Red Wings, Kane is poised to reach the 500-goal mark in the next few months as he currently sits at 492 goals, 851 assists and 1,343 points in 1,302 games played to this point.

1. Alex Ovechkin (2005-06)

While Malkin and Kane have undoubtedly carved out phenomenal careers, neither could unseat The Great Eight from the top spot on this list. After being taken first overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 draft, Ovechkin was forced to postpone his rookie season until 2005-06 due to a season-cancelling lockout. When he finally did take the ice, however, he immediately proved he was NHL-ready with 52 goals and 54 assists, not only taking the Calder Trophy handily but also getting first-team All-Star honors. Ovechkin also dispelled any concerns of a sophomore slump in 2006-07 by grabbing 46 goals and 46 assists, winning another first-team All-Star.

By the end of the 2000s, Ovechkin was already putting up some of the best offensive numbers of his career, including back-to-back Hart Trophy seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09. In the former season, he collected a career-high 65 goals to go along with 47 assists, winning the Art Ross with 112 points, while the latter season saw him get 56 goals and 54 assists. He finished second for the Hart in 2009-10, but still captured his fifth consecutive first-team All-Star nomination.

In a shortened 2012-13 season, Ovechkin took home his third Hart Trophy on the strength of 32 goals and 24 assists, followed up in 2013-14 with 51 goals scored to earn his fourth career Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals on the season (his previous wins coming in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2012-13). The Rocket Richard crown would belong to Ovechkin for the next two seasons as well, amassing 53 goals in 2014-15 (another season he finished in the runner-up spot for the Hart) and 50 goals in 2015-16. After a somewhat underwhelming 2016-17 campaign, Ovechkin bounced back big time in 2017-18, scoring 49 goals for his seventh Rocket Richard. However, one piece of hardware that Ovechkin had not gotten his hands on to that point was the most important one, that being the Stanley Cup. That all changed in the 2018 playoffs, as he led the Capitals to their first championship in franchise history and picked up the Conn Smythe Trophy in the process with a league-high 15 goals.

After the Stanley Cup win, Ovechkin resumed scoring goals at a rapid pace despite being well into his 30s, fittingly taking his eighth Rocket Richard and eighth first-team All-Star selection with 51 goals in 2018-19. He added another Rocket Richard title for good measure in 2019-20, getting 48 goals in a shortened 68-game regular season. Although his scoring totals have dropped off a bit in the 2020s, he has still never fallen below 30 goals in a full-length season, which allowed him to eclipse Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record late in the 2024-25 season. While there’s certainly still time for Ovechkin to add onto his already impressive collection of accolades, currently he has put up 897 goals and 726 assists for 1,623 points in 1,491 career games, all of which with the Capitals.