NHL awards: Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin named Vezina Trophy winner

New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin has been named the 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's top goaltender, beating out Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros and Calgary Flames tendy Jacob Markstrom for the award.

Shesterkin finished the regular season with a 36-13-4 record over 53 games played. He led the NHL in both GAA (2.07) and save percentage with a ridiculous .935, while finishing third in shutouts with six. The Russian netminder absurdly posted a save percentage of at least .940 or better in half (26) of his 52 starts.

That .935 save percentage is the third-best single-season mark ever among goalies who played in at least 45 games, sitting just behind 2010-11 Tim Thomas (.938) and 1988-99 Dominik Hasek (.937).

Shesterkin, who helped New York secure the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division en route to an unexpected berth in the Eastern Conference final, is the third Rangers netminder to win the award since GMs began voting on it in 1981-82. John Vanbiesbrouck took home the hardware with the Rangers in 1985-86, and Henrik Lundqvist won it in 2011-12.

Saros, meanwhile, led the NHL with 67 starts, going 38-25-3 for the Predators. He finished the regular season third in wins, tied for sixth with four shutouts, and eighth in save percentage (.918) among goaltenders with 20-plus games played, and did it while facing the second-most shots (2,107) and playing the most minutes (3,931) among all goalies league-wide

Markstrom played in 63 games for the Flames, going 37-15-9 while leading the NHL with nine blank sheets. Markstrom finished tied for third with a .922 save percentage, and tied for fourth in wins among goalies to play at least 20 games while setting NHL career bests in starts (63), wins (37), GAA, save percentage, and shutouts.

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