Apr 6, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers center Jonathan Huberdeau (11) in the third period against the Washington Capitals at the BB

The finalists for the 2012-2013 Calder Memorial Trophy were announced today by the NHL. For those of you that don’t know the Calder Trophy is awarded to the leagues top rookie. For the 2011-2012 season Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche was given the award. This year the finalists are Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens, Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers and Brandon Saad of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Gallagher was a fifth round pick by the Canadiens in the 2010 Entry Draft and went 147th overall. This season he has scored 15 goals and 13 assists for a total of 28 points. He has scored 2 goals so far in the 3 playoff games he has played.

Huberdeau was the 3rd overall pick in the 2011 entry draft. He was second on the Panthers in scoring with 14 goals and 17 assists (31 points). He is tied with Nail Yakupov of the Edmonton Oilers for first in rookie scoring.

Saad was also selected in the 2011 entry draft. He went in the second round and was 43rd overall. He has 10 goals and 17 assists this season with Chicago.

All three candidates show great promise which makes the future for all three teams look very bright.Which of these three candidates do you think will win?

According to TSN.ca, O’Reilly will make $1 million in base salary for this season with a $2.5 million signing bonus. Next season his salary will jump to $6.5 million and thus triggering a new level for his next salary in two years.  TSN reports that O’Reilly’s next qualifying offer must be for at least the $6.5 million that he’ll make next year and to further complicate matters, the Avs cannot trade the disgruntled forward for at least one year.  Speculation as to if they will move him after that time lapse has already commenced.

The Flames did their best to try and acquire the talents of O’Reilly who would bolster their number one line with a legitimate top center to play along side Jarome Iginla.  Calgary GM, Jay Feaster admits that the tried to trade for O’Reilly before signing him to the offer sheet, courtesy of TSN.ca.

“While we attempted to acquire him via trade, we felt the asking price was too steep and would negatively impact our future. As such, we decided to tender an offer sheer and were very pleased to have the player accept our offer.”

The Avalance would have received the Flames’ first and third round picks in this year’s NHL Entry Draft had they chosen not to match the offer and given how quickly they reacted, it’s clear they had no intention of losing O’Reilly to an offer sheet or trading him away.

But Adrian Dater of the Denver Post wonders if this is just the beginning of the Ryan O’Reilly versus the Colorado Avalanche saga.  Dater examines the Avs payroll for next season and points out that the $6.5 million that O’Reilly will make will handcuff the club when it comes to going after free agents that could impact the team.

According to Dater, the Avalanche now have $58 million committed for next season with this signing and with the league reducing the salary cap from $70.2 million to $64.3, it could prove difficult to get creative to try and add key pieces to their roster, barring a trade.

What the Flames also did was set the expectations for the future free-agents that the Avs will have to try and resign after next season, namely Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog.  Dater states that Avalanche management allowed Calgary to set the market for O’Reilly and thus will be forced to hand out hefty pay checks to the aforementioned three young stars or risk losing them entirely.  Not a bad play by Feaster and the Flames against a divisional opponent who could be a major thorn in Calgary’s future.

Were you surprised by the Flames offer sheet?  Leave us your comments and let us know how you feel about the Ryan O’Reilly situation.

O’Reilly is said to be seeking an annual payout of $5 million while the Avalanche are offering around $2.5 million.  Recent hold outs P.K. Subban and Jamie Benn have signed with their respective clubs, the Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Stars and many around the hockey world feel that the clubs won the battle of the contract holdouts.  This would not bode well for O’Reilly who led the Avalanche in scoring last season.

But one factor that O’Reilly has going for him is the suddenly thin lineup of firepower the Avs are icing on a nightly basis.  Captain, Gabriel Landeskog is out with head and leg injuries and although he’s listed as day-to-day, it could be over a week before he returns.

Forward Steve Downie is out for the season which leaves Matt Duchene, Milan Hejduk, P.A. Parenteau and Paul Stastny to carry the load for the suddenly struggling Avalanche.

Inserting O’Reilly into the lineup sooner rather than later will only help the Avs chances of making a push for the playoffs given his ability to create scoring chances and make those around him better players.

As this story unfolds, we’ll keep you posted.