Gilroy native and ex-Morgan Hill resident Dustin Wolf finished second in voting for the NHL’s Calder Trophy, awarded each year to the league’s top rookie.
The award was announced June 10. Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson finished first, with Calgary goalie Wolf as runner-up and San Jose forward Macklin Celebrini in third place.
Wolf earned 15 first-place votes, 96 second-place votes, 59 third-place votes, 17 fourth-place votes, and one fifth-place vote from the 191 eligible voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
Hutson, who excelled with assists by a rookie defenseman, finished on top with 1,832 points. He received 165 first-place votes. Wolf’s point total was 1,169 and Celebrini had 1,104.
Wolf was Calgary’s first Calder Trophy finalist since 2014-15, when Johnny Gaudreau finished third in voting. Calgary players won the award five times between 1974-75 and 1989-90.
Additionally, Wolf was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie team, received one third-place vote for the Vezina Trophy (league’s top goalie) and one fourth-place vote for the Hart Trophy (league MVP). Wolf was the only rookie to receive votes for either of those awards.
Wolf named to NHL’s All-Rookie Team
The NHL also announced their 2024-25 All-Rookie Team. The honors went to Wolf, Celebrini, Michkov, Gauthier, Hutson and Columbus’ Denton Mateychuk. For this award, Wolf was selected unanimously, with every writer putting him on their All-Rookie Team.
In addition to the accomplishments above, Wolf set new single-season Calgary franchise records for starts (53) and shoutouts (3). Only three U.S.-born rookie goaltenders have earned more victories in a single season than Wolf’s 29: Jimmy Howard (37, 2009-10), Frank Brimsek (33,1938-39) and Ryan Miller (30, 2005-06).
“I came into the year splitting starts and there was nothing given—you had to earn it and it was a great battle with Vladdy (Dan Vladar) all year,” Wolf said after being nominated for the Calder last month. “From the coaching staff down, the boys had my back through thick and thin. There were going to be stretches along the way where things don’t go your way, but I had their back and they had mine, and I’m just fortunate the staff gave me a chance to prove that I continue to belong in this league and I can help our team win as many hockey games as I can.”
Wolf’s stellar season
Wolf won 29 games during the just-completed season, one shy of the franchise record by Mike Vernon. He finished with a 2.64 goals-against average and .910 save percentage.
Wolf was universally cited as the key reason for Calgary’s strong season and contention for the playoffs, when the team was viewed in the pre-season as having little chance for making the playoffs. Instead, the Flames accumulated 96 points and tied St. Louis for the eighth and final playoff slot, but lost out to the Blues on a tiebreaker.
Wolf’s second-place finish was the highest for a Flames rookie since 1996-97, when Jarome Iginla was runner-up to Bryan Berard.
“It’s a cool list to be a part of,” Wolf told Postmedia after he was announced as one of three finalists for the award. “This was a strong year for us young bucks.”
Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov finished fourth, with Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier in fifth and San Jose’s Will Smith in sixth.
Statistics illustrated Wolf’s fantastic year.
He made at least 25 saves in 35 of his 53 appearances and allowed two or fewer goals 25 times. At 5-on-5, his .848 high-danger save percentage ranked fourth among goalies with at least 50 appearances, trailing Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Los Angeles’ Darcy Kuemper and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy—all of whom were finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
In all, he stopped 18.39 goals above expected, and 9.54 above expected from the high-danger locations, ranking fourth in both categories as well.
“We saw what he was able to do at the end of the year prior because of Dan (Vladar)’s injury, so he had opportunities to play and I thought he was good in those games,” head coach Ryan Huska said recently on 960 AM radio in Calgary. “But as a coach, you’re wondering, ‘Well, how’s he going to stand up when he’s in there more often? Or he’s playing against the elite players in the league? Are they going to be able to pick him apart?’ Because the one thing he can’t control is his size.”
“You soon found out very quickly that it matters not at all, because he’s so intelligent upstairs that he reads the play better than any goaltender I’ve been around,” Huska said. “He’s able to arrive on those passes that go from one side of the ice to the other on his feet. That’s how smart he is. So, you quickly learned early on that his size is not going to be an issue for him. His ceiling is real high and we’re quite excited that we’re going to have him for hopefully years to come.”
The Wolf Watch is a periodic look-in at the career of Gilroy native and ex-Morgan Hill resident Dustin Wolf, goalie for the NHL’s Calgary Flames.
