Could MAF be a Vezina candidate?

[Vegan Knight]

Pros
-He leads the league in wins.
-He leads the league in shutouts.
-His GAA (Vegas 3rd in NHL) is one of the league's best. (9th overall, 3rd among goalies who have started more than 25 games)
-Vegas doesn't have an amazing defense you could attribute credit with regards to those numbers.
-He's an All-Star.
-He's the starting goaltender on a team fighting for their division.
-His likability and reputation probably garner some votes.
-I don't think it's been a year where a goalie has run away with this award if Anaheim misses the playoffs with Gibson in net.

Cons
-He needs a better save % than .912.

I realize John Gibson would be a shoe in but it looks like Anaheim may miss the playoffs which significantly hurts his chances. So this all assumes they do because if they make it Gibson wins.

Now, of course Fleury would need to continue to rack up wins and get his save % up in to the .920 range and that would require a rather great second half of the season but it's definitely possible for him. At least enough to be put in the conversation as a finalist.

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[hangman005]

Not likely, I feel he would need to have a damn impressive 2nd half of the year to do so. He's played pretty well and not to take away from him, but IMO he's not on the Veizna radar.

 

[GKG18]

I think if the second half of the season goes like the last 20 games, his stats will be difficult to overlook. He'll be top 5 in votes for sure.

 

[Vegas07]

Based on these comments back in December it sure looks like he will keep starting a huge number of games.

 

[willy702]

I sure hope not. He really needs to have his games cut down a lot, he's got nothing to prove in the regular season at this point. I'm hoping for a phantom injury that takes him out for 5-10 games and lets Subban and Lagace/Dansk show how ready they are for a bigger role. Even if its not time this year, its rather important for the team to see what they have behind MAF so they can make good decisions on what to do for contracts next year.

 

[member 151739]

He could squeak into being a finalist, I guess, but it's Gibson's to lose in a perfect world and Andersen's to lose in the real world.

 

[allevat]

As long as he's leading the league in wins, he'll be in the Vezina conversation; the GMs care a *lot* about wins. Look at the voting over the last few years, it usually matches the top wins list, it's just the order that differs. He's unlikely to win and will probably need to get his SV% up a bit to be a finalist, but he'll be in serious consideration.

 

[Super Cake]

He could squeak into being a finalist, I guess, but it's Gibson's to lose in a perfect world and Andersen's to lose in the real world.

Gibson wont even be nominated with the way things are going for the Ducks.

 

[willy702]

I

Gibson wont even be nominated with the way things are going for the Ducks.

If his stats hold he will and he probably should win it. It's not an MVP award where team success matters most. Hard to argue Gibson isn't the best in the league with the insane amount of shots the Ducks allow. That they are in the playoff race is mostly due to his effort. What gets me is even at a younger age and with a shaky aging backup, the Ducks still use him less than MAF.

 

[member 151739]

Gibson wont even be nominated with the way things are going for the Ducks.

Hence me saying in a perfect world.

 

[Vegas07]

This article has Fleury ranked at #1.

The Great Goalie Rankings: How The NHL’s 31 Starting Netminders Stack Up - TheHockeyNews

 

[LadyStanley]

Ah, yep.