Vezina Race Heats Up

Well, not entirely. Tim Thomas will win the Vezina this year undoubtedly. Pekka Rinne will be the runner up with almost complete certainty. Nevertheless, that third finalist spot is a wide open race. Here's the break down on every candidate's credentials and winning probabilities.



Tim Thomas

Will obviously win the trophy. He leads the league in save percentage at 93.7%, and GAA at 2.06. Furthermore, he has 7 shutouts, and is an impressive 30-10-8 on the season. He's certainly slowed down in the second half of the season (as have the rest of the Bruins), yet his historically dominant first half will be enough to easily carry him to a nearly unanimous selection. He plays an aggressive and active style of goaltending. Although it's ugly to watch, every save is made all the more impressive by the fact that all of his success is produced by pure athleticism and competitiveness. Last season he had lost his starting job to youngster Tuukka Rask, only one season after capturing his first Vezina. Nevertheless, hip surgery over the off season seems to have cured whatever was ailing him, as he is now the most dominant goalie in the NHL.




Pekka Rinne

Rinne is the most fascinating goalie in the NHL this year, and it's really a shame that his beauty of a season won't be recognized with the trophy itself. Unlike Thomas, who plays on a division leader, Rinne plays on a team that has not been in a playoff spot for most of the season. Regardless, he has an impressive 93.0% and a stellar 2.07. Though he missed time in the middle of the season with an injury, Rinne has started a respectable 56 games for the Predators, winning 28 of them. Yet what makes him all the more intriguing of a candidate is his style of play. At 6-5 and 207 pounds, Rinne combines the athletic and agile play of Thomas, with the technical and methodical style of Carey Price (who stands at a similar 6-3, 219). Consider in the fact that Rinne was an eighth round pick who split time with Dan Ellis for his whole career prior to this season, and this campaign has truly been something special for RInne. Unfortunately, it just won't be his year. But at a spry 28, he should have years ahead of him to compete for the trophy again and again.




Henrik Lundqvist

Lundqvist, another late round pick, is all too familiar with being a runner up for the Vezina. Lundqvist set separate records by being the first player in NHL history to be nominated for the Vezina in his first 4 seasons in the NHL, and by being the first player in NHL history to start a career with six consecutive 30 win seasons. The final nomination will go to him this year due to his NHL leading 10 shutouts, as well as his record setting sixth 30 win season. He's in the top 5 in GAA at number 5, with a 2.31, and he's in the top ten in SV% at number 8, with a 92.2%. He's more than solid statistically, and he's arguably the biggest reason as to why his New York Rangers are sitting at 7th in the East.




Carey Price

Like Thomas, Price's is a great comeback story. Price had gone from being referred to by Montreal fans as "Jesus Price," to being booed during pre-season games. He lost his starting job last season to Slovakian sensation Jaroslav Halak, only to watch him carry the Habs all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the playoffs. Fortunately for him, Halak got shipped out to St. Louis, thus giving Price the sole starting job. Since being handed the starting reigns, he hasn't looked back. He's posted an outstanding 92.2% with a 2.35 GAA and 8 shutouts. Keep in mind that he's tied for the most wins in the league with Detroit's Jimmy Howard, and has faced the second most shots in the league behind Carolina's Cam Ward. All in all, he's done an incredible job for a 23-year old playing in hockey's greatest pressure cooker. He may snag the nomination from Henrik because he's a Canadien, but I don't think that anyone's going to pass on a Ranger to take a Canadien if it comes down to politics.



Roberto Luongo


92.5% with a 2.23 GAA, he's putting up more impressive stats then Price or Henrik, but only has 3 shutouts, and plays for the NHL leading Vancouver Canucks. Case in point, even you, my dedicated reader, would be Vezina nominated goalie if you were playing behind Keith Ballard, Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler, Sami Salo, and Kevin Bieksa. Add in the fact that Luongo has faced nearly 400 fewer shots than Price, and Luongo's Vezina campaign seems thin, although statistically he arguably deserves it.



Jonathan Quick

He doesn't have the SV% necessary to get nominated at a 91.9%, which is too bad for Quick. Any other year and all five of these goalies would probably be Vezina finalists.


Honorable Mentions: Jonas Hiller, Ilya Bryzgalov, Tomas Voukoun