Courtesy: Yuri Kadobnov / AFP / Getty Image Files /Postmedia News.
Just days after Sidney Crosby scored the “golden goal” at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, pundits – and wannabe pundits alike – started sharing their predictions for Team Canada’s 2014 Olympic roster.
Every so often, we’d hear another one . . . and then another one.
Predictions, as they say, are for gypsies. Predicting Team Canada’s Olympic hockey roster (and doing it that early)? I’m not even sure a gypsy could do that.
Justin Schultz put up 48 points in 34 games with the Oklahoma City Barons of the AHL this season.
1. Justin Schultz will win the Calder Trophy. There’s no shortage of candidates (teammate Nail Yakupov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jakob Silfverberg, Mikael Granlund, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Alex Galchenyuk to name a few – seriously, those are just a few), but Schultz will win it and it won’t be close. Say what you want, but 48 points in 34 games as a rookie defenceman in the AHL is just filthy. Fans of the Vancouver Canucks probably won’t want to hear this, but Schultz is the real deal.
2. Whether he stays on Claude Giroux’s wing or gets bumped down to the second line, Brayden Schenn will put up 40 points. All the signs are there for a breakout season. Last year in the playoffs he showed what he was capable of, recording nine points in 11 games. This season in the AHL, he averaged a point-per-game. At 21 years old, Schenn is ready to take the next step in his career – and he’ll have a great opportunity to do that in Philly.
