What Is the Calder Trophy?

The Calder Memorial Trophy is the NHL’s Rookie of the Year award, handed to the first-year player judged the most proficient over the regular season. If you have heard hockey people call someone “a Calder favourite,” they mean he is the front-runner for rookie of the year.

It is one of the league’s oldest and most prestigious individual honours, and unlike a scoring title or an MVP award, it can be won only once, because a player has only one rookie season. Here is what the trophy is, who qualifies for it, how it is decided, and who has won it recently.

What the Calder Trophy is and who it is named after

The award goes “to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition,” in the league’s own wording. It is named after Frank Calder, the NHL’s first president, who led the league from its 1917 founding until he died in 1943. The trophy took his name that year and has recognised the league’s best rookie ever since.

The Calder sits alongside the Hart (MVP), the Norris (best defenceman) and the Vezina (best goaltender) as the marquee individual prizes of the NHL season. Winning it marks a player as the standout newcomer of his draft class’s arrival in the league.

Who is eligible for the Calder

Eligibility is stricter than “played his first full season,” because the league wants genuine rookies, not veterans who slipped in through short call-ups. To qualify, a player must not have:

played more than 25 NHL games in any single previous season, or
played six or more games in each of any two previous seasons, and
reached the age of 26 before September 15 of the award season.

Those cutoffs are why a player can spend a few games in the NHL, return to junior or the minors, and still arrive as a Calder-eligible rookie the following year.

How the Calder is decided

The winner is chosen by a vote of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. Voters submit a ranked ballot of their top rookies, points are assigned by placement, and the player with the highest total wins. Finalists, usually three, are announced late in the season, and the winner is revealed at the NHL Awards. It is a body of writers making the call, not a fan vote or a coaches’ poll.

Recent Calder Trophy winners

This table lists the most recent Rookie of the Year winners. The award year matches the season it was won.

Season	Winner	Team	Position
2024-25	Lane Hutson	Montreal Canadiens	Defenceman
2023-24	Connor Bedard	Chicago Blackhawks	Centre
2022-23	Matty Beniers	Seattle Kraken	Centre
2021-22	Moritz Seider	Detroit Red Wings	Defenceman
2020-21	Kirill Kaprizov	Minnesota Wild	Left wing
2019-20	Cale Makar	Colorado Avalanche	Defenceman

Three of the last six winners were defencemen, which is notable for an award that historically leaned toward high-scoring forwards. Hutson’s 2024-25 win came after he led all rookies in points, a rare feat for a defenceman.

Why the Calder matters beyond the season it is won

A Calder win is often the first line on a great career’s résumé. Cale Makar followed his 2020 Calder by becoming one of the best defencemen in the world; Kirill Kaprizov turned his into franchise-cornerstone status in Minnesota. The award is a snapshot of a player’s arrival, and looking back at a winners list is a quick map of which stars broke through in which season.

For where these rookies aim to end up, our list of the greatest NHL players of all time tracks the careers that started with moments like a Calder run, and the most goals in NHL history shows the scoring heights the best of them reach. If you want to test your own hockey knowledge, our daily Sports Connections puzzle sorts players and teams into hidden groups. The short version: the Calder is the NHL’s rookie of the year, decided by the writers, and it is the one major award every player can win exactly once.

Frequently asked questions

Who votes for the Calder Trophy?+

The Calder is voted for by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, the same body that votes on most major NHL individual awards. Writers rank their top candidates on a points-weighted ballot, and the player with the most points wins. The result is announced at the NHL Awards after the regular season.

What are the eligibility rules for the Calder Trophy?+

To be Calder-eligible, a player cannot have played more than 25 NHL games in any previous season, nor six or more games in each of any two previous seasons. He also must not have turned 26 before September 15 of the award season. These rules stop established players from qualifying as rookies after short call-ups.

Who is the Calder Trophy named after?+

It is named after Frank Calder, the first president of the NHL, who served from the league's founding in 1917 until his death in 1943. The award was renamed the Calder Memorial Trophy in his honour that year, having previously been given informally to the league's best rookie.

Has a goaltender ever won the Calder Trophy?+

Yes, several times. Goaltenders including Terry Sawchuk, Ken Dryden and Tom Barrasso won as rookies, and Dryden famously won the Calder the season after he had already won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP, a quirk of the eligibility rules. Goalies remain eligible like any other first-year player.

Can a player win the Calder Trophy more than once?+

No. The Calder is strictly a rookie award, and a player has only one rookie season, so it can be won only once in a career. This is why the winners list never repeats a name, unlike scoring or MVP awards that the same player can claim in multiple seasons.

What is the difference between the Calder and the Hobey Baker Award?+

The Calder is the NHL's rookie award. The Hobey Baker Award is college hockey's top individual honour, given to the best player in US college hockey. A player can win the Hobey Baker in college and later win the Calder as an NHL rookie, but they recognise entirely different levels of the sport.