A New Calder Trophy Contender Enters the Chat

Rookie seasons rarely follow neat arcs. They wobble, surge, regress, and sometimes push their way into conversations no one expected by December. That is what has happened in Anaheim, watching an emerging forward insert himself into a race that once looked straightforward. A team that already leans heavily on its youth has watched one more player force his way into a conversation usually reserved for established blue-chip names. The Ducks entered the season knowing they would need contributions from their young core, but they did not expect a teenager to lead the NHL rookie scoring race by December. The early favourite, Matthew Schaefer, still holds his ground in the Calder Trophy race, yet another rookie is building a case. Somewhere inside this debate sits the growing Beckett Sennecke Ca