CowboyinAmerica 2,887 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 The Rise of the Young Goalies Now that we’re at the end of the season, it’s essentially a toss-up who will win the Aidan Shaw trophy for Top Goaltender. Calgary’s Hans Wingate holds a slight advantage in both save percentage and goals against average over Quebec's Niklaus Mikaelson, while Mikaelson currently has the overall lead in both shutouts and wins. Voters can’t go wrong with either one, or even GAA-leader Blake Campbell, but in doing so the voters will be doing something that hasn’t happened in a while: picking a young goaltender. Hans Wingate is in only his second season past his draft year. Blake Campbell, meanwhile, is in his third, and Niklaus Mikaelson is in his fourth. Other positions have had recent young winners — Conner Low and Godavari Yumalatopinto both won Best Defenseman in their first three years, while O’Malley picked up Top Scorer in his fourth season last year. However, the recent trend at goaltender skews towards old goalies. Last ten Shaw Trophy Winners (Season after draft year in parentheses) S43: Martin Brookside (8th) S42: Martin Brookside (7th) S41: Mike Szatkowski Jr. (6th) S40: Lennox Moher (6th) S39: Eggly Bagelface (6th) S38: Tuomas Tukio (8th) S37: Tuomas Tukio (7th) S36: Remy LeBeau (6th) S35: Skylar Rift (5th) S34: Remy LeBeau (4th) You have to go all the way back to Season 34 before you get to another goalie who won the award in the first half of his career: Toronto’s Remy LeBeau. And going back even further, past the first four seasons of the VHL (in which every goaltender was at least that young), there have only been nine awards in 39 seasons in which the goaltenders were in their first four years post-draft, with only five trophies handed out to those players in the past 32 seasons. Goalies who won in first four seasons post-S4 (Season after draft year in parentheses) S34: Remy LeBeau (4th) S30: Marius Henchoz (4th) S25: Benjamin Glover (2nd) S21: Aidan Shaw (4th) S20: Aidan Shaw (3rd) S11: Steve LaFramboise (4th) S10: Benoit Devereux (2nd) S8: Alex Gegeny (4th) S6: Adrian McCreath (4th) This is where Hans Wingate could win some serious acclaim. As noted, there have only been two players that have won the trophy just one year after their draft year... and ironically, neither one was actually drafted. Benoit Devereux was assigned to Avangard (later Davos) via the GM rule, winning the award in his second season, as well as his fifth and sixth, en route to a Hall of Fame career. Streetlight’s Benjamin Glover, meanwhile, would win the award in his second and fifth seasons, both with New York after also being assigned there via the GM rule. There’s also another important point for both Wingate and Mikaelson, whichever one wins the award: six of the eight players on that list are in the Hall of Fame. The two that aren’t, meanwhile, have decent excuses. LaFramboise, with his then-exceptional 558 TPE, might be one of the biggest goaltender snubs from the Hall of Fame, sitting 16th in all-time wins, 13th in save percentage, 19th in GAA, and one Shaw Trophy and Continental Cup each despite only playing 364 games. Henchoz, meanwhile, was on his way to a similar career with Calgary, going 208-85-22 and sitting with a sixth-best all-time 2.09 GAA before retiring unexpectedly just 316 games into his career. One could argue that the relative weakness of the Season 37 through 39 draft classes has made the road easier for Wingate and Mikaelson, and you wouldn’t be wrong. With the high profile busts of S37 goaltenders Blaine Olynick and Kimmo Salo, S38 draftee Brock Waldron was the only older goaltender expected to put up a fight. Still, the accomplishment could set up a long, award-winning career for either Mikaelson or Wingate, with Campbell, Sinclair, Gow and others aiming to usurp the title with a run of their own next season. BOOM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,425 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Wingate will win and he would win even if the stats were reversed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,934 Posted August 10, 2015 Admin Share Posted August 10, 2015 You better make the most of this one season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,425 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 You better make the most of this one season. clegane a shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,934 Posted August 10, 2015 Admin Share Posted August 10, 2015 Ryan Price m8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglesfan036 4,598 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 WinGod is 2 gud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toast 887 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Content 3/3 - I always enjoy reading articles that give me a little more insight on the history of the league. I didn't know that young goalies winning the Shaw was so uncommon. If it were up to my opinion though, WinGod would be making it number three for second season goalies winning the trophy. Grammar 2/2 - I didn't find anything. Good stuff here. Appearance 1/1 - Pictures, kind-of stats, and headers! Nailed it. Final 6/6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachReilly 688 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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