Heiskanen throws shade at the Calder nominations and the NHL after being snubbed.

On Saturday night the National Hockey League revealed the names of the 3 finalists for the Calder Trophy, an award handed out each year to the rookie player that best distinguished himself from peers or in another words the rookie of the year. Often times during these awards there is a player that distinguishes himself as the clear cut favorite but, although some may feel that way this season, this one has been a very close race.

Here are the 3 finalists as per the National Hockey League's official announcement yesterday:

Jordan Binnington - Goaltender for the St Louis Blues.

Elias Pettersson - Forward for the Vancouver Canucks.

Rasmus Dahlin - Defenseman for the Buffalo Sabres. 

Now this is my personal opinion but as far as I have been concerned this season this has always been a 2 horse race. Pettersson and Dahlin have simply been too good and although Pettersson's momentum was a little hampered by injury he still had an outstanding rookie campaign. No disrespect to Binnington here but he was only called up in January and I simply do not feel he played enough games this season to warrant the nomination he received, much less winning the award. That being said, there is no question that he has been the Blues most valuable player this season and there's also no question that he turned that franchise's season around with his incredible performances.

There is however one other player who could have earned himself a nod for just how good he was that season and that player is none other than Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen. It is clear that there are many members of the Dallas Stars fan base who felt that Heiskanen not being among the 3 finalists this season was a major snub, and for the same reason I would not have Binnington win the award I can see an argument that Heiskanen earned the nomination more than the Blues goalie did. 

That being said the Stars have not been shy to let their feelings known, with forward Tyler Seguin being the first to speak out. 

According to Dallas Stars insider Sean Shapiro however it was Heiskanen himself who had the best response to not being named one of the finalists. Heiskanen made a seemingly polite comment about not being picked, but the last part of that comment really stands out. 

"I don't care," said Heiskanen. "They are good players also. So I'm having fun here in playoffs."

It has to be noted that both Pettersson and Dahlin are currently not in the playoffs at this time, and something tells me that was some not so subtle shade being tossed at those two players. As for Binnington? Well Heiskanen had a different response to that one, scoring a goal on the Blues goalie In  Game 2 of their second round series just hours after the names were revealed.