By Jordan Long
The winners for the NHL awards will be announced during the Stanley Cup Semifinals and Stanley Cup Final. The Vezina finalists for the top NHL goaltender this year were revealed. Those goaltenders are Marc-Andre Fleury, Philipp Grubauer, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. All of them are deserving of this award but who should take home the hardware? Let’s dive deeper into the numbers.
Marc-Andre Fleury plays for the Vegas Golden Knights. He started in 36 games with a record of 26-10. He didn’t have an overtime loss. The Knights relied on him to stop opponents’ shots from going into the net. Fleury was able to cover the puck and not allow rebounds. His goals against average was 1.98 with a save percentage of .928 with 6 shutouts. He ranks 3rd in the NHL this season in wins and shutouts.
Philipp Grubauer carried the Avalanche all year. He started 40 of Colorado’s 56 games. He was part of the reason why Colorado ended up with the NHL’s best record and earned home ice throughout the postseason for however long the playoff run will last. Grubauer ended up with 30 victories which are 4 more than Fleury but one less than Vasilevskiy. His save percentage was an outstanding .922 but that is less than both Fleury and Vasilevskiy. Grubauer had the most shutouts with 7. His goals against average was 1.95, the best in the NHL.
Vasilevskiy is the top goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He won 31 games losing only 10 this season. The wins were the most in the NHL at the position. His save percentage is slightly lower than Fleury at .925. Vasilevskiy didn’t record as many shutouts with 7. The only part of his game that is going to hurt him compared to Fleury and Grubauer is his goals against average. It was the worst out of the 3 with a 2.21.
All of these goaltenders helped their team this season. If not for Fleury, the Knights may not be 2nd behind the Colorado Avalanche in the standings. Without Grubauer, Colorado wouldn’t be the top team in the NHL standings. For Vasilevskiy, he assisted Tampa Bay to 3rd in the Central Division. Tampa Bay may not have been in a playoff position if not for Vasilevskiy.
Fleury , Grubauer, and Vasilevskiy should be the finalists. Fleury and Grubauer have never won the Vezina Trophy while Vasilevskiy took home the honor in 2019. That season Vasilevskiy went 39-10-4 save percentage of .925 and a goals against average of 2.40.
It is a tight race but in the end, the award should go to Grubauer. He has the edge because of his goals against average. Grubauer also ended up helping Colorado with the league’s best record. He should win it. All 3 of these goaltenders know it would be a great honor to be named the top goaltender in the NHL. The NHL couldn’t go wrong if they named one of the other 2 either.
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