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 41st
shutout on March 14th 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment