Optimist: This season has gone even better than I’d hoped. Matthews is going to be the first Leaf to win the Calder since Brit Selby; Marner is going to finish third in the voting, and Nylander will finish with a statline that would have won the trophy most other years. We have the best crop of rookies since Selanne’s day.
And don’t discount the other pieces. Nazem Kadri is poised to score 30 goals as a shutdown centre. Tyler Bozak is on pace for a career high in points (seriously). Even with JVR’s recent cold spell, he’s an elite scoring winger, ready to either complement the core or facilitate a trade this summer.