Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy joins elite company with 2nd Vezina

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Jun 6, 2026

Published in Hockey

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TAMPA, Fla. — No one needs to remind the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy how difficult it is to win the Vezina Trophy, awarded each season to the NHL’s top goaltender.

This season, it showed up in the passenger seat of his car.

Vasilevskiy has been one of the top three vote-getters for the award six times, more than any other active goaltender. But up until now, he’d won just once.

Evaluating goaltending is tricky. It’s not based on wins or save percentage or goals-against average. None of those numbers will tell you what has made Vasilevskiy the backbone of the Lightning for so many years, his ability to pick up his teammates with timely saves at the most pivotal times in a game.

For years, teammates were the ones who spent many a postgame scrum this reminding everyone that Vasilevskiy is the best goaltender in the world. And who can forget Nikita Kucherov’s “No. 1 bulls—t” Zoom soliloquy following the Lightning’s 2021 Stanley Cup win after Vasilevskiy was snubbed of the Vezina?

But now, Vasilevskiy reaches rarefied air.

The 31-year-old netminder won his second career Vezina — his first came after the Lightning’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning season in 2018-19 — making him just one of three active goaltenders to win the award multiple times. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck are the others. Vasilevskiy was the runnerup to Hellebuyck last season and finished third when Hellebuyck won his first Vezina in 2020.

“As a professional goalie who plays in the NHL, it’s one of your ultimate goals, for sure, to win the award,” Vasilevskiy said. “But it’s all about the team and you will never win this award without a good team in front of you. That means a lot to me.”

The league and the Lightning surprised Vasilevskiy in late May, employing the help of the Tampa Police Department and its K-9 unit.

Vasilevskiy was working out at Benchmark International Arena when he was alerted by TPD that a suspicious item had been detected in his black Porsche, which was parked in the players’ lot. His passenger door was open, with a large black bag inside.

Asked if the bag belonged to him, Vasilevskiy said no, a look of confusion on his face. The officers pulled the bag out of the car and unzipped it to reveal the Vezina.

“When I heard there was this suspicious object in my car, I’m like this wasn’t going to end well,” Vasilevskiy said afterward.

In a historical context, Vasilevskiy winning his second Vezina further solidifies his Hall of Fame resume and place as one of the league’s all-time best goaltenders.

Since the 1981-82 season, when the Vezina was first selected by a vote of the league’s general managers, just five players have won multiple Stanley Cups and multiple Vezinas.

Three of those players — Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur — are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The other two are Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy and Roy are the only goaltenders to also win a Conn Smythe Trophy. Vasilevskiy won the playoff MVP award in 2021, while Roy won the Conn Smythe three times.

Unlike the previous seasons in which he was a finalist, Vasilevskiy emerged as the frontrunner early in the second half of the season, bolstered by an 18-game stretch from Dec. 20 to Feb. 25 in which he went 17-0-1 with a 1.90 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. Over that span, Vasilevskiy held opponents to two goals or fewer 13 times.

For the sixth time in his 10 seasons as an NHL starter, Vasilevskiy led the league in wins with 39, a statistic that traditionally carries weight with voters. Vasilevskiy. He ranked second in the league in goals-against average (2.31), fourth in goals saved above expected (24.7) and fifth in save percentage (.911).

Vasilevskiy won his second Vezina seven seasons after his first, and he did so while adjusting his routine and mindset as he’s gotten older and dealt with more physical ailments. Three preseasons ago, he underwent lower back surgery, and even this season he overcame a preseason injury that limited his on-ice preparation.

Vasilevskiy took home this Vezina by a wide margin, receiving 17 of the 32 first-place votes. No one else received more than eight. The league’s general managers selected their top three goaltenders on a 5-3-1 point allocation. Vasilevskiy finished with 114 points, the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin was second with 51 and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman finished third with 46. The Capitals’ Logan Thompson (29) and Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood (21) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

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