NHL Announces 2016-2017 Vezina Trophy Finalists

The NHL has announced the names of the finalists for the 2017 Vezina Trophy. Your nominees are Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals, Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens.

Carey Price, Sergei Bobrovsky and Braden Holtby voted finalists for Vezina Trophy. That last month of the season crushed Devan Dubnyk.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 22, 2017

While none of the names really come as a surprise, a few other goaltenders were very close to being in the running. As noted in the tweet above from TSN’s Frank Seravalli, Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk had a fantastic first half of the season, but faded down the stretch and was ultimately left off the list. Edmonton’s Cam Talbot also received a fair amount of support for helping the Oilers reach the playoffs for the first time in over ten years.

In our earlier Vezina breakdown, Holtby, Bobrovsky, and Price emerged as the clear statistical favourites. They were favoured in both the traditional stats that NHL general managers seem to have an affinity for, and also more advanced metrics like goals-saved-above-average and high-danger save percentage.

After our breakdown was released, InGoal readers voted (overwhelmingly) in favour of Sergei Bobrovsky walking away with the award.

Who should win the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender this season?

— InGoal Magazine (@InGoalMedia) April 12, 2017

In our pre-season prediction post, which featured opinions from each of the writers and editors, Carey Price, Cory Schneider, and Henrik Lundqvist came out on top as the favourites entering the 2016-17 season. Sergei Bobrovsky did not receive a single vote.

Can’t win them all!