To mark the quarter point of the season, NHL.com is running its second installment of the Trophy Tracker series. Today, we look at the race for the Vezina Trophy, awarded annually to the goalie voted to be the best in the League by NHL general managers.
Connor Hellebuyck is in his eighth NHL season and has already won the Vezina Trophy once, in 2019-20. But right now, he feels he’s playing at his highest level.
“Getting better every year, and this is probably the best I’ve been,” he said earlier this month. “Hopefully I keep growing it.”
Right now, he’s grown things to where he’s the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy for the second time, according to a panel of 14 NHL.com writers. He received 60 points in the poll, including five first-place votes, edging the Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmarkwho received 59 points, including nine first-place votes.
Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars (25 points), Logan Thompson of the Vegas Golden Knights (24) and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders (23) rounded out the top five.
Hellebuyck is 9-5-1 with two shutouts in 14 games. His .926 save percentage is fourth in the NHL among goalies to play at least 10 games, and his 2.46 goals-against average is sixth.
Hellebuyck also is sixth in the NHL with a .934 even-strength save percentage despite facing the second-most even-strength shots on goal (424).
Video: CHI@WPG: Hellebuyck makes 30 saves in 30th shutout
Facing a high volume of shots is nothing new for Hellebuyck, who seems to thrive in those situations. He has faced the most shots on goal in each of the past four seasons, including 30 shots in a game 10 times this season, and has allowed two goals or fewer in five of them. He’s faced 40 shots in a game four times, and in those games he’s 3-0-1 with 11 goals allowed on 174 shots (.937 save percentage).
“He’s unbelievable,” the Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “He’s looked fantastic this year. He’s looked sharp from the first day of [training] camp. … If he’s playing like that and feeling that way and confident, that gives our team a ton of confidence. He’s been our rock back there for a long time now and it’s great to hear him feeling it like that.”
Hellebuyck’s play has the Jets (12-6-1) in the race for a top-three spot in the Central Division after they missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
“[Hellebuyck] gives us the confidence that we can do our job in front of him and play the right way and he’ll do his thing every night to give us a chance to win,” Morrissey said.
Ullmark is 13-1-0 in 16 games (15 starts), leads the NHL with a 2.00 GAA and .935 save percentage (minimum 10 games).
He also has held up under an increased workload. Prior to sustaining an upper-body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, Ullmark had started 10 of Boston’s past 13 games, including six straight since Oct. 28-Nov. 10, after not playing more than four in a row last season.
“I feel great,” Ullmark said last week, according to NESN.com. “It’s why we work out in the summer. We had a little longer summer after we got beaten there in the first round [of the playoffs last season]. So, there was a lot of emotions that you wanted to get right back at it.”
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis): Connor Hellebuyck, Jets, 60 points (5 first-place votes); Linus Ullmark, Bruins, 59 (9); Jake Oettinger, Stars, 25; Logan Thompson, Golden Knights, 24; Ilya Sorokin, Islanders, 23; Vitek VanecekNew Jersey Devils, 8; Carter HartPhiladelphia Flyers, 7; Alexander GeorgievColorado Avalanche, 3; Martin JonesSeattle Kraken, 1
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