Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made history when he won his second Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender.
On Saturday, Vasilevskiy was announced as the Vezina Trophy winner, beating out finalists Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders and Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins.
Although Vasilevskiy had incredible numbers, he admitted to NHL.com that it was “a surprise” to win the award. That being said, he’s obviously thrilled, though he admitted he could have never done it without the team behind him in Tampa Bay backing up his stellar play in the crease.
“I’m really grateful. Professionally, this is one of your ultimate goals, but it’s all about the team. It takes a lot to have a good defensive team. I can’t say enough about (my teammates), about this organization, the trainers, coaches, the fans … it’s a team award,” Vasilevskiy said.
Vasilevskiy joins Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper, who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach this year, to win major year-end trophies for the Lightning this season.
Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov is also up for the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s MVP, so it’s possible a third Lightning member could win a major trophy for this season’s performance.
Andrei Vasilevsky Makes History With 2nd Vezina Win
By winning his second Vezina Trophy, Vasilevsky joined an elite group of five NHL goalies who have won at least two Vezina Trophies and at least two Stanley Cup championships.
The elite group of five includes:
- Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets/Florida Panthers
- Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
- Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens/Colorado Avalanche
- Dominick Hasek, Buffalo Sabres/Detroit Red Wings
It’s an incredible group of goalies, as Broduer, Roy, and Hasek are all in the Hockey Hall of Fame. When it’s all said and done, look for both Vasilevskiy and Bobrovsky to join them in the HHOF.
2025-26 Vezina Trophy Voting
Here are the complete voting results for the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy.
2025-26 Vezina Trophy Voting
|
|
|
Points |
(1st-2nd-3rd) |
|
1. |
Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL |
114 |
(17-9-2) |
|
2. |
Ilya Sorokin, NYI |
51 |
(8-1-8) |
|
3. |
Jeremy Swayman, BOS |
46 |
(2-9-9) |
|
4. |
Logan Thompson, WSH |
29 |
(2-4-7) |
|
5. |
Scott Wedgewood, COL |
21 |
(2-3-2) |
|
6. |
Dan Vladar, PHI |
9 |
(0-2-3) |
|
7. |
Igor Shesterkin, NYR |
6 |
(0-2-0) |
|
8. |
Jake Oettinger, DAL |
3 |
(0-1-0) |
It’s always interesting to look at the down-ballot votes to see what other voters were thinking. While Vasilevskiy and Sorokin were the clear top-two choices this year, the voters were somewhat split on the order of the other finalists.
However, Swayman, Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals, and Scott Wedgewood of the Colorado Avalanche all received two first-place votes each, which is certainly intriguing. All three of these goalies had great years, of course, but neither of them played to the level that Vasilevskiy and Sorokin did, so, interestingly, some voters felt they were the best goalies in the league.
Keep in mind that the Vezina Trophy is voted on by the NHL’s 32 general managers. Keeping that in mind, Vasilevskiy only got 28 out of a possible 32 votes going his way, which is odd, as that means four GMs left him off their ballots entirely, even though he had arguably the best numbers of any goalie in the NHL this season. Still, he won, so the voters got it right in the end.
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