The NHL's Super Sophomores

The 2005-06 class of NHL rookies is regarded as one of (if not the) best rookie classes in the history of the sport. Franchise-caliber talents like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Dion Phaneuf, Ryan Miller and Henrik Lundqvist exploded onto the scene with skill and poise well beyond their years.

But last season's rookie class was incredibly deep in talent as well (in part the result of the lockout year in essence creating a rookie crop twice as large as usual). An example of that depth was seen in the unprecedented number of 20-goal scoring rookies -- 11, which is more than the three previous rookie classes combined. And most of these snipers show no signs of letting up in their respective second seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, when Ranger sophomore Petr Prucha netted his 20th goal last night, he became the fifth member of last year's rookie class to score at least 20 goals in each of his first two seasons, marking the first time since 1992-93 that at least five players achieved that in a year (that season it was six players -- Alexei Kovalev, Eric Lindros, Shawn McEachern, Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk and Alex Zhamnov -- who accomplished the feat).

Here's a quick look at last year's 20-goal-scoring rookies and their totals last year and so far this year:

Alex Ovechkin (52, 43)
Sidney Crosby (39, 36)
Marek Svatos (32, 15)
Petr Prucha (30, 20)
Brad Boyes (26, 17)
Tomas Vanek (25, 39)
Jeff Carter (23, 13)
Chris Higgins (23, 20)
Dion Phaneuf (20, 17)
R.J. Umberger (20, 16)
Patrick Eaves (20, 13)

Can Boyes, Phaneuf and/or Umberger have a big game or two over the final week of the season and add to the '05/'06 rookie class's already-impressive resume? I wouldn't bet against these kids -- would you?