Mason wins Calder and Novotny is outta here

First off, congratulations to Steve Mason on winning the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year. Hopefully he has many more strong years in a CBJ uniform. Rick Nash also won some award I’ve never heard of, but he wasn’t on hand in Vegas to accept it. Still, congratulations to Nasher. The Awards show itself was the train wreck we’ve come to expect, so the move from Toronto to Las Vegas did not affect that. It’s good to know there are some things you can rely on year after year in this world…

One player who won’t be having many more strong years in a CBJ uniform is Jiri Novotny, who is not being tendered a qualifying offer and will thus become a UFA. Novotny was the Blue Jacket player this past season who I most often forgot was on the team. We’ve seen far worse in Columbus, but he never really stood out for me.