Is Mason Richardson in the Sterling Labatte Race?

[Devise 4,475]

Mason Richardson entered the season as one of the most highly touted draft prospects in VHL history. He had a ton of hours of practice, he had a very well rounded and consistent game on both sides of the puck, and he was going to be a feature player on the upstart Cologne Express squad.

 

However Richardson has been overlooked for a large part of the season no matter what it comes to. The rookie race is currently being dominated in points by Tyrone Williams, although Williams has slowed down and Masons fellow Cologne teammate, Thomas O'Malley is not far behind. However Richardson is only ten points back of O'Malley as a defensemen I'll add, and on top of that he has some solid defensive stats this season. 

 

Which then begs the question, is there anything else Richardson is being overlooked for? How about the defensemen of the year award? The hype has been a battle between Matt Bentley he took a jump in the defender scoring lead this season, and the man who could make history Conner Low, who has now roared back to take the scoring lead for defenders. However Richardson is very much in question for this award. He sits 4 points back of Conner low, one point back of Matt Bentley. With the right finish to his season, he could very well finish FIRST in defender scoring this season. While Richardson will finish with less hits than both Bentley, and Low, his shots blocked on a team full of players needs to be taken into consideration. Richardson currently has 93 shots blocked, one better than Matt Bentley and 5 better than Low. While those numbers don't scream "amazing" the fact is this is a closer race between three players than people are realizing.

 

If Richardson can come out strong to finish the season and lead all defenders in scoring it will certainly complicate the voting process this year. The fact that Richardson can be this close with Bentley and Low in only his rookie season is a great sign going forward for the Cologne Express.