Story pulled from the Western Hockey League website
What. A. Season.
Congratulations to Everett Silvertips defenceman and Edge School student-athlete,
Landon DuPont, on being named the WHL Rookie of the Year for 2024-25.
DuPont is the eighth defenceman in 58 seasons to win the distinguished award and the first since Portland's Seth Jones (Florida Panthers) in 2012-13.
DuPont is the first defenceman and second player in WHL history to be granted exceptional status to compete in the league full-time at 15 years old. He was drafted by the Silvertips with the first-overall pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft.
He surpassed lofty expectations by leading all WHL rookies with 17 goals (including 10 powerplay tallies) and 43 assists for 60 points in 64 games. DuPont finished ninth among first-year players in goals, second in assists and third in plus/minus with a +31 rating.
The 5-foot-11, 179-pound rearguard ranked seventh among all defencemen in points. In the playoffs, he added another 15 points (5 G, 10 A) in 10 games.
DuPont also became the first defenceman aged 16 or younger to hit the 50-point mark in their first season since Hockey Hall of Famer and Kamloops Blazer Scott Niedermayer in 1989-90. What's more, DuPont earned his 50th point of the season against Niedermayer's former club with an assist against the Blazers on February 2, 2025.
Across the entire CHL, DuPont's 60 points led all rookie defencemen and tied for second among all rookie skaters.
He also piled up four assists in four games to help Canada Red claim a silver medal at the 2024 U17 World Hockey Challenge.
DuPont was named WHL Rookie of the Month for September/October and December, in addition to two Rookie of the Week wins and one Tempo WHL Player of the Week recognition in the regular season.
Landon joins a list of names that includes the likes of Gavin McKenna, Connor Bedard and Dylan Guenther that have previously won a WHL Rookie of the Year award. Landon also becomes the second Mountaineer to ever win the award – class of 2012 grad, Mathew Dumba, won the award in 2010-11 while playing for the Red Deer Rebels.
