NHL Announces Finalists for Vezina Trophy

The National Hockey League announced the finalist for the Vezina Trophy for top goaltender on Wednesday.

The nominees for Vezina Trophy which will be presented during the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 22, are Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals, Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings.  

All 30 of the teams’ general manager submitted their ballots following the regular season, with the top three vote getters being named as the finalists. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards to held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

After establishing a career high and franchise record of 40 wins in 2014-2015, Bishop followed up this past season with 35 victories for a fourth place tie in the NHL. He also surpassed former Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, as the winningest goalie in team history. 

Bishop paced the NHL with a goals against average of 2.06 and finished second with a .926 save percentage. Both stats were a career high and single season record franchise records.  His six shutouts on the season were tied for second most in the NHL as well as a career high for him. 

This is Bishop’s second time as a finalist for the Vezina. He finished third during the 2013-2014 season. 

Holtby, tied Martin Brodeur’s single season record of 48 victories, while backstopping the Capitals to the President’s Trophy for best record in the NHL. He also became just the seventh goaltender in league history to record consecutive 40 or more wins in one season. He was also the first to do it, since Evgeni Nabokov did it for the San Jose Sharks from 2007 to 2009. 

The first time Vezina Trophy finalist, posted a fifth best GAA of 2.20, eighth best save percentage of .922 and was sixth in saves with 1,661. 

Quick led all goalies in appearances and starts with 68 on the season, led the league in minutes played at 4,034, second in wins at 40, fifth in saves with 1,671 and fifth in shutouts with five during the 2015-2016 season. He became the first Kings goalie to reach the 40-win mark, breaking his own record of 39 set back in 2009-2010. 

The Milford, Connecticut native, picked up his 41^st shutout on March 14^th in Chicago, surpassing Frank Brimsek (Eveleth, Minnesota) and John Vanbiesbrouck (Detroit, Michigan), for most by a US born goaltender. 

This is Quick’s second time as a finalist for the Vezina, in 2011-2012 he finished second in the voting. 

Former owners of the Montreal Canadiens, Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau and Joe Cattarinich first presented the award to the NHL in 1926-1927 in memory of Georges Vezina. 

Vezina was an outstanding goaltender for the Canadiens, who collapsed during an NHL game on November 28, 1925 and died a few months later of tuberculosis. 

Until the 1981-1982 season, the goaltender of the team surrendering the fewest goals during the regular season was presented with the Vezina Trophy.