Tuukka Rask was having one of the best seasons of his career before the coronavirus pandemic interrupted. He and platoon mate Jaroslav Halak have already received one award for their efforts, winning the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL.
Now Rask has a chance to add another. On Friday the 33-year-old Bruins goalie was named one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the best goalie in the league as voted on by the NHL's 31 general managers. Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the other two finalists.
Rask won the Vezina in 2014, the only other time he was a finalist. That was the third time in six years a Bruin had won it, following Tim Thomas' wins in 2009 and 2011. Vasilevskiy won the Vezina last year, while Hellebuyck has never won it. The UMass Lowell product did finish second in 2018, though, and should be considered the clear frontrunner this year.
This is how I broke down the race when analyzing the Bruins' award chances last month:
The case for Rask: He ranked second in the NHL in save percentage (.929), second in even-strength save percentage (.939), first in goals-against average (2.12), second in shutouts (5), second among goalies in Evolving-Hockey's standing points above replacement (6.7), and sixth in goals saved above expected (7.31). If the traditional rate stats (save percentage and GAA) are what you value, then Rask is your guy. Among goalies who made at least 40 starts, Hellebuyck (.922) and the Stars' Ben Bishop (.920) were the only other two with a save percentage of .920 or better, and Rask was well clear of them at .929.
The case for the field: The field in this case is really just one guy: Hellebuyck. The Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy, the reigning Vezina winner, will get some votes after leading the league in wins with 35 while playing a true workhorse No. 1 role in a league that is increasingly shifting toward 1/1A platoons (a la Rask and Halak with the Bruins), but if that's what you're looking for then Hellebuyck is right there and beats Vasilevskiy in basically every other metric besides wins, which is more of a team stat (and in which Hellebuyck still ranks second).
By all rights the Jets should've been near the bottom of the standings. They rank 27th in shots-for percentage (47.4%), 25th in Corsi-for percentage (48.0%) and dead last in expected goals-for percentage (43.1%), meaning that all things being equal they should've been outscored more than any other team. Instead, the Jets had a plus-13 goal differential and were mere percentage points out of the 16-team playoffs when the season was paused. Hellebuyck was far and away the biggest reason why. He was second among all goalies in minutes played, first in shots faced, first in saves, first in shutouts (6) and seventh in save percentage (.922). If that last number doesn't really jump out at you, well, context matters. Hellebuyck played behind a poor defensive team that gave up a lot more shots and a lot more quality shots than the goalies ahead of him. His value is reflected not just in his league-leading SPAR, but also in Evolving-Hockey's goals saved above expected, where his 19.86 dwarfs second-place Darcy Kuemper's 8.71. Hellebuyck also stepped it up down the stretch as the Jets made their playoff push, posting a .934 save percentage in 16 games after the All-Star break.
Our pick: Connor Hellebuyck. Rask's season may have been enough to win him a second Vezina in most seasons, but what Hellebuyck did behind a much worse defense and in much more of a workhorse role (58 games to Rask's 41) should make him an easy choice here. But the Vezina is voted on by the league's 31 general managers and I'm not super confident they're going to get this right, so don't be shocked if Rask or Vasilevskiy pull off the upset.
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