NHL Vezina Trophy Rankings: Western Conference on top

Tier 1: Vezina Trophy Favorite

1. Alexandar Georgiev, Colorado Avalanche

Much like the Maple Leafs, the Colorado Avalanche aren't the powerhouse they've been over the last few years. With cap constraints looming over them, the team went out and added a bunch of buy-low veterans, such as Jonathan Drouin, Ryan Johansen, and Tomas Tatar.

Since the team is a bit weaker in all three areas, Alexandar Georgiev's performances have stood out a bit more than usual. The former New York Ranger has played in a league-leading seven games so far, which puts him in exclusive company with Johansson and Juuse Saros at the moment. Johansson actually has the better GSAA, but that's because Georgiev has had a few consecutive rough games.

Still, the Bulgarian has played better than most on this list, and it's possible that the strenuous workload has been a factor in his declining play over the last week. Remember, Georgiev won 40 games with the Avs last season and finished seventh in Vezina Trophy voting. The standard of play has been there, but the consistency has not.

With such a small sample size to go off of, a lot of these rankings have a "yes, but" type of asterisk over them. Georgiev is no different - his recent outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins proves that the ground beneath him at the top of this mountain is not solid. If there's another game like that, we'll have a new Vezina favorite next week.