Case for the Calder: Tyler Myers

2009/10 Stats:

82 GP, 11 G, 37 A, 48 P, +13, 137 BS

As far as rookie seasons for defensemen go, Tyler Myers' first season is in select company.

Myers and his 48 points tie Bryan Berard for the second-most points by a rookie defenseman in the last 14 seasons. Dion Phaneuf had 49 points in the bumper crop rookie harvest of 2005-06.

His rookie season was also one of the best the Buffalo Sabres organization has ever seen. Statistically Myers had the eighth most productive first-year performance in club history, behind some Blue and Gold legends like Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault and Phil Housley, the only defenseman above Myers on the list.

To offer a little perspective, that's better than rookie seasons for Dave Andreychuk, Alexander Mogilny and Pierre Turgeon -- keeping in mind they're all forwards -- and the best since Thomas Vanek also scored 48 points in 2005-06.

Focusing a bit more on the present, Myers led all rookies in 2009-10 with 1,946:33 in ice time and 23:44 per game. Those near-2,000 minutes are the 15th most of any player in the league, rookie, veteran or somewhere in between. He also led rookies and his team with 252:22 in shorthanded ice time, which was good for 21st in the league. While it's certainly one thing to carry those minutes on a team with a mediocre penalty kill or worse, it's another entirely for a 20-year-old blueliner to be an integral part of the NHL's second best penalty kill unit. That he led the Sabres with 137 blocked shots probably went a long way toward that stat as well.

Myers skated in all 82 games and finished with a plus-minus rating of +13, while playing against the best competition of any defenseman on the team.

Those facts, maybe more than the points, probably make the biggest argument for Myers to win the Calder. Lindy Ruff trusted a very young player, especially so for defensemen who typically take longer to develop, to log a ton of important minutes for the Sabres.

Given all that responsibility and the way in which he handled it, it's hard to imagine any rookie meant more to his team than Tyler Myers meant to the Buffalo Sabres in 2009-10.