The NHL Playoffs are upon us, which means the finalists for the NHL Awards are being announced. First up, were the finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the top goaltender in the League.
The three finalists were Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The winner will be announced on June 20th at the NHL Awards in Vegas. The General Managers will have the final say in which goalie gets to take home the hardware.
Connor Hellebuyck was slated to start the season as the backup goaltender for the Jets until the veteran Steve Mason struggled early and then got hurt. Once Hellebuyck got a chance at being the number one goalie, he never looked back. He played in 67 games this season and finished with a 44-11-9 record to go with a .924 save percentage and a 2.36 GAA. He finished eighth in goals against average and 10th in save percentage. The 67 games were tied for the most played by a goalie, while his 3,966 minutes were the most played.
The 24-year-old is the first Vezina finalist in Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history, and it is also his first time being a finalist for the award. His 44 wins were tied for most in the league with Vasilevskiy, and were the most by a U.S. born goalie ever, breaking Tom Barasso’s record of 42 wins. Hellebuyck’s six shutouts were the third most in the league behind Rinne & Vasilevskiy. He won nine straight games to end the season, which is a franchise record. He faced the third most amount of shots (2,048) and made 1,892 saves.
Pekka Rinne, 35, is a finalist for the Vezina for the fourth time in his career. He has never won the award, but came in second in the 2010-11 & 2014-15 seasons. Rinne finished third in voting in the 2011-12 season. He finished the season with a record of 42-13-4 to go with a 2.31 goals against average and a .927 save percentage in 59 games played. His 2.31 GAA was the fifth best in the league and his .927 save percentage was ranked seventh best. Rinne’s eight shutouts were tied for tops in the league with Vasilevskiy and set a franchise record.
Rinne was the most consistent of the three finalists this year. He managed to keep his team in games and give them a chance to win with timely saves. The goalie helped his team to win 11 straight games from February 19-March 19, which helped the Predators clinch the Presidents Trophy and the Central Division.The 42 wins were third in the NHL, and it marked the third time in his career that Rinne has reached 40 or more wins in a season. Yes, his number may not have been as good as the two other finalists, but without him the Predators may not even win the Central Division.
Andrei Vasilevskiy took over the starting goaltending position this season after splitting some time with other goalies the past two seasons. This is his first time as a finalist for the award and if he wins, he could be the first ever goalie to win the award in Tampa Bay Lighting history. The numbers could have been better, but he admitted towards the end of the season that he was starting to get tired due to the heavy load this year. He was 44-17-3 with a 2.62 GAA and a .920 save percentage in 65 games played in the regular season. His 3.825 minutes played were the fourth most in the league as were his 65 games played.
The 23-year-old was tied for first in wins (44) and shutouts (8), which were both franchise records. He led his team to the best record in the Eastern Conference and to the best season in franchise history. Vasilevskiy won in straight on the road from October 9-30, which is a new Lightning record. He became the 12th goalie in NHL history to finish the season with a share of the NHL lead in wins prior to his 24th birthday. He did allow a lot of goals on the power play, but that was a product of his team not being very good in front of him.
My projected winner for the Vezina Trophy is Pekka Rinne. He did so much for his team this year, and led them to a franchise record in wins (53) and points (117). Rinne kept his team in games, and was the most consistent goaltender from start to finish despite only playing in 59 games this year.
