Once again, Martin Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist’s names are linked. The pair of brilliant opposite No.30’s for their respective metro area clubs were nominated earlier today for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, making it the third consecutive year they’re up for the prestigious award. 

It was Brodeur who took home his third Vezina a year prior, edging out Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo with his Ranger adversary finishing third. The New Jersey Devil will try to make it two straight for the second time in his brilliant Hall of Fame career. His first ever Vezina topped off the franchise’s third Cup in 2003. He was a repeat winner the following year before the lockout. 

I just made an interesting discovery. TSN has it wrong in their article. They claim Brodeur’s going for a fifth Vezina but that’s impossible because Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff won it in 2005-06.  

Way to go guys! It’s not the first time they’ve screwed up either cause I recall them misspelling a player’s name recently. Keep up the good work.

Anyway, Brodeur had another stellar season winning 44 of the Devs’ 46 games while posting a respectable 2.17 GAA (ranked fifth) and .920 save percentage (tied for sixth). He also posted four shutouts and tied with San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov for most games played (77).

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Speaking of which, Nabokov will be joining Brodeur and Lundqvist as a nominee. The Sharks’ netminder won 46 of the club’s 49 games while finishing tied for third in GAA (2.14) and shutouts with six. He also had a .910 save percentage.

As for Lundqvist, it’s the third straight season he’s been nominated. Not a bad beginning to a career. The 26 year-old Swede appeared in a career high 72 games matching the amount of victories (37) from last season while achieving a new best in GAA (2.23) along with a .912 save percentage. He also paced the league with 10 shutouts- three better than his first two seasons combined. 

The NHL Awards will be handed out following the Stanley Cup Final on June 12th.

Reaction: No real surprise here as all three were worthy selections. Glad to see Luongo not included as he really fell apart causing Vancouver to miss. There were other good candidates who could’ve been considered such as Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Pascal Leclaire, Chris Osgood, Tim Thomas and Marty Turco, who said he’d give it to Nabokov.

Nabby certainly had a great season. I wouldn’t mind seeing him win it. Figure it to be between him and Brodeur with Lundqvist finishing third despite all the shutouts. I just didn’t think he was consistent enough to win it. Let him win that other priceless hardware with teammates. Hey. I can dream!