The National Hockey League announced on Tuesday its first round of finalists for the 2021 NHL Awards to recognize achievements from the 2020-21 regular season. The league started by announcing its three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded annually “to the goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position," as voted upon by all 31 general managers in the NHL.
This year's three finalists for the Vezina Trophy are Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Colorado Avalanche netminder Philipp Grubauer and Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
It's quite remarkable that for the first time in his 17-year NHL career, Fleury has been named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.
The 36-year-old netminder put up the best stats of his career in the COVID-19-shortened season, amassing a 26-10-0 record in 36 games played with a 1.98 goals-against average, a .928 save percentage and six shutouts. Along with goaltender Robin Lehner, Fleury went on to win the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goaltending duo in the NHL that allowed the fewest goals during the regular season.
Fleury was able to finish the regular season ranked third in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts among goaltenders who played at least 20 games in the 2020-21 season.
In his fourth season with the Golden Knights, Fleury helped lead Vegas to a second place finish in the Pacific Division, posting a 40-14-2 record and 82 points in 56 games. They finished the year tied with the Avalanche for first in the division, but it was the Regulation Wins tie-breaker that allowed Colorado to claim the division title and the Presidents' Trophy as the best team in the regular season.
So far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Golden Knights narrowly escaped the opening round against the Minnesota Wild, beating them in seven games. Currently, Vegas trails the Avalanche 1-0 in the series with Game 2 set to take place Wednesday night in Colorado.
Grubauer is another first-time finalist for the Vezina Trophy after the exceptional season he put up with the Avalanche.
The 29-year-old German netminder wound up playing 40 games this season in Colorado, starting 39 of those contests while posting a 30-9-1 record, a 1.95 goals-against average, a .922 save percentage and seven shutouts. Grubauer went on to share the league-lead in shutouts this season with New York Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, while also finishing second in both goals-against average and save percentage.
Grubauer's play was also a significant reason for the Avalanche claiming the Presidents' Trophy as the regular season's top team in the NHL. He earned 30 of Colorado's 39 wins on the season, and remained healthy throughout the entire season to make his mark as one of the best goalies this past season.
The native of Rosenheim, Germany will look to become the second German goalie to ever win the Vezina Trophy, joining former Washington Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig, who won the honor back in 2000.
The Avalanche rolled through their first round matchup in the Pacific Division with a four-game sweep of the 2019 Stanley Cup champion, St. Louis Blues. Colorado currently holds a 1-0 series advantage over the Golden Knights, with Game 2 of the series set to take place on Wednesday on home ice.
Meanwhile, this is the fourth-consecutive season in which Vasilevskiy has been recognized as one of the top-three goalies in the NHL.
The 26-year-old Russian goalie, once again, led the NHL with 31 wins en route to also posting a 2.21 goals-against average, a league-best .925 save percentage and five shutouts for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Vasilevskiy joins Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur as the only goalie in NHL history to lead the league in wins in four-consecutive seasons. He is also one year away from joining Brodeur from being a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in five-straight years. Brodeur last achieved that from the 2002-03 season to the 2007-08 season.
After a third place finish for the Vezina Trophy in the 2017-18 season, Vasilevskiy ended up winning the honor the following season in 2019, where he posted, then, career-best numbers in goals-against average (2.40) and save percentage (.925).
While finishing third in Vezina Trophy voting for the 2019-20 season, Vasilevskiy helped the Lightning to the franchise's second-ever Stanley Cup Championship in the Edmonton bubble with a win over the Dallas Stars in six games.
Vasilevskiy managed to win 31 of Tampa Bay's 36 total wins this past season, as the team finished the regular season in third place in the Central Division.
The Lightning are already on a path towards repeating as Stanley Cup champions again in 2021, as they took care of business in the first round of the playoffs in six games over their interstate rival, Florida Panthers. Tampa Bay currently leads the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 in their second round series, with Game 2 scheduled for Tuesday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The winner of the Vezina Trophy will be announced as part of the 2021 NHL Awards starting Monday, June 14.
The next round of finalists for the 2021 NHL Awards will be announced on Wednesday, June 2, with the three finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award, recognizing the NHL's most outstanding player in the regular season, as voted on by the members of the NHL Players' Association.