Andrei Vasilevskiy has been an elite goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning for some time. His strong recent work paid off as he won the 2019 Vezina Trophy, his first such award.
The other finalists were Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars and Robin Lehner of the New York Islanders. Lehner won the Masterton Trophy earlier in the 2019 NHL Awards.
You can tell that this is a bittersweet night for Vasilevskiy and the rest of the Lightning, as it’s clear that the wounds haven’t totally healed from that shocking first Round 1 sweep at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That shouldn’t take away from a strong season for Vasilevskiy, and the Lightning in general, so this award is part of that haul. Lightning teammate Nikita Kucherov has already started collecting his awards, and is likely to add more before the trophies are all handed out.
As you can see from the voting results, Vasilevskiy won by a large margin. Personally, I believe Bishop had a strong argument in his own right, but this is a fine choice:
Last year, Pekka Rinne won the Vezina, beating out Vasilevskiy, who was a finalist.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.