Trophy Tracker: Shesterkin of Rangers preseason choice for Vezina as top goalie

To mark the beginning of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its first installment of the Trophy Tracker series. Today, we look at the race for the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the top goalie in the NHL as selected by NHL general managers.

Igor Shesterkin was the best goalie in the NHL in the second half of last season and there's no doubt he can carry that top-level play for a full season.

Shesterkin's strong finish and outstanding track record made the New York Rangers goalie the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the League's best goalie this season according to NHL.com. He received nine first-place votes and 66 voting points from the 16-person panel.

Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, the Vezina winner last season, was second with 45 points (two first-place votes), and Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators was third with 42 points (three first-place votes). Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers and Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks also each received one first-place vote.

Shesterkin was 36-17-2 with a 2.58 goals-against average, .913 save percentage and four shutouts in 55 games last season. But it wasn't all smooth sailing.

He was inconsistent through most of the first half of the season, and backup Jonathan Quick started three straight games spanning the break for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game in early February.

With the extra time to work on his game, Shesterkin rediscovered his dominant form, going 17-5-1 with a 2.20 GAA, .930 save percentage and four shutouts in his final 23 games. Among goalies to play at least 15 games after the break, Shesterkin had the best GAA, tied for the most shutouts and was third in save percentage while facing 31.0 shots on goal per 60 minutes.

He was just as good during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with a 2.34 GAA and .927 save percentage in 16 games to help the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final.

"Igor was just fantastic and his playoffs were outstanding," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's such an important position, it's nice that you don't have to talk that much about it."

The most significant talk around Shesterkin is about a new contract to replace the one that expires after this season, when he can become an unrestricted free agent. But he certainly doesn't seem to be affected by it, saying during training camp all he wants is to "be focused on my game and on practice every day."

The Rangers understand just how important Shesterkin is to their success. New York has a .671 points percentage in the 196 games Shesterkin has started (123-56-17) the past four seasons, and a .604 points percentage (58-36-12) in 106 games started by other goalies, according to NHL Stats and Information.

Since 2020-21, Shesterkin is fourth among goalies in wins (125), fifth in games played (201) and tied for third with 15 shutouts. Among goalies to play at least 100 games during that span, his .920 save percentage is second and his 2.42 GAA is fourth.

Shesterkin won the Vezina in 2021-22, and there wouldn't be much of a surprise if he takes the trophy home again this season. It's why the Rangers want to do everything they can to keep their franchise goalie in New York for as long as possible.

"You all know what I think of Igor and what we all think of Igor around here and we certainly hope he's here and a Ranger for a long time," general manager Chris Drury said. "You know how important he is to our team and our organization. We're going to do everything we can to make sure he's here for a long time."

Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers, 66 points (nine first-place votes); Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets, 45 (two first-place votes); Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators, 42 (three first-place votes); Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars, 24; Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers, 21 (one first-place vote); Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, 15; Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins, 9; Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks, 6 (one first-place vote); Jacob Markstrom, New Jersey Devils, 6; Stuart Skinner, Edmonton Oilers, 2; Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders, 2; Dustin Wolf, Calgary Flames, 1; Alexandar Georgiev, Colorado Avalanche, 1

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report