McDavid vs. Eichel vs. can anyone else actually win the Calder?

Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are ready to get this thing going.

“I think it’s starting to get real,” said Eichel to Yahoo Sports’ Sunaya Sapurji, via Buzzing The Net. “Obviously I have to earn my spot on the Sabres – earn everything I get in the next month and a half. I’m just going to go in with an open mind and try to be positive throughout the whole process.”

As for McDavid, he says his expectations for the season aren’t “a numbers game” for the Edmonton Oilers. “It’s just doing the best that you can,” said McDavid to Buzzing The Net. “Playing the best that you can do and contributing to the team and trying to help the team win games. I think a winning Oilers season would be a great success.”

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(Which is more delusional: Eichel not making the training camp cut for the Sabres or the Oilers having a winning season?)

Both of these guys are going to get their points. McDavid obviously has the benefit of playing with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, along with the Oilers’ other young offensive studs on special teams. Eichel is going to have Matt Moulson riding on his wing, potentially with Zemgus Girgensons. (And he’s going to have a line with Ryan O’Reilly and Evander Kane to help take off the offensive pressure.)

This could end up being the kind of point-producing slugfest between rookies that we haven’t seen since Alex Ovechkin won the Calder with 106 points (and 52 goals) over Sidney Crosby (102 points) back in 2005-06. The fact that McDavid is being cast as the “chosen one” and Eichel as the one trying to usurp him only makes the parallel stronger.

But Michael Traikos of the National Post reminds us that the Calder race goes beyond the Big Two:

Arizona's Max Domi, who was selected 13th overall in 2013, is two years older than McDavid and could be the offensive centrepiece on a weak Coyotes team. Calgary's Sam Bennett, who played just one regular season game, had three goals and one assist in 11 playoff games for the Flames. Whether it is Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers or Chicago's Artemi Panarin or the other players selected in the top 5 (Dylan Strome, Mitch Marner and Noah Hanifin), there is more than enough top-end talent to make things interesting.

"I don't think it's a slamdunk (that McDavid or Eichel will win the Calder Trophy), only because you have to allow for a couple of other players to enter the mix," said TSN's director of scouting Craig Button. "Artemi Panarin's a hell of a player. And he's 23 years old. He's going to come in and make an impact. I think of the team Sam Bennett's going to play on and I think he's going to challenge. I don't know where Nikolaj Ehlers is going to fit in, but he's insulated on a very good Jets team."

In the last 15 years, only one forward that’s won the Calder Trophy hasn’t been a top three draft pick: Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010-11, as he was taken seventh overall. That was an odd one: No. 1 Taylor Hall of the Edmonton Oilers was limited to 65 games, and No. 2 Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins was limited in his ice time. Skinner had the points and had a wave of support because of his age and the fact that he was a star at the Raleigh-hosted NHL All-Star Game.

Can McDavid or Eichel lose the Calder? Here’s what I think it would take, speaking as a voter: another rookie leading the NHL in either points or goals for a first-year player and having an undeniable impact on the team’s fortunes.

So, like, if Max Domi makes the Arizona Coyotes something better than hot garbage, for example.

But it’s probably going to be McDavid or Eichel. And what a race it’s going to be this season.

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