Fansided

2018-19 NHL Awards nominees and predictions

By Bruin Belisle

TAMPA, FL - MARCH 25: Nikita Kucherov #86 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates his goal against Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins during the third period at Amalie Arena on March 25, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - MARCH 25: Nikita Kucherov #86 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates his goal against Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins during the third period at Amalie Arena on March 25, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TAMPA, FL – APRIL 10: Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning skates against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game One of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at at Amalie Arena on April 10, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images)”n”n /

Vezina Trophy

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Robin Lehner and Ben Bishop are the three goaltenders in line for a Vezina Trophy. Vasilevskiy likely has the slight edge over the other two, as the Tampa Bay Lightning were historically good this season.

It would be his first Vezina win and the third in a row for a goaltender not from North America.

Robin Lehner sported a .930 save percentage and 2.13 goals against average but he only played in 46 games. The case against Lehner is that he was part of a goalie-by-committee game plan this season.

The same goes for Ben Bishop, whose .934 save percentage and 1.98 goals against average led the NHL (for all players not named Jordan Binnington, anyway).

Bishop shared time with Anton Khudobin in Dallas, a trend we’re seeing a lot more of around the league (only eight goaltenders played over 60 games in 2018-19).

Andrei Vasilevskiy benefits from playing a solid 53 games for the winningest team in the NHL. Despite being slightly lower in the two predominant goaltending statistics (.925 and 2.40 respectively), Vasilevskiy is likely going to take home the trophy.

Prediction: I’d love to see this award go to Ben Bishop as his numbers from this season compared to others are astonishing. The same could be said for Lehner, who also turned his off-ice life around recently.

That being said, Vasilevskiy is the bettors choice to win the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy.

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