After leading all goaltenders in regular season wins for a second straight season and leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to a second straight Stanley Cup victory, Andrei Vasilevskiy has emerged as the clear favourite on the Vezina Trophy odds for the upcoming NHL season, sporting short +400 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Vasilevskiy fell short of winning the Vezina this past season despite racking up 31 regular season wins. Overall, the 27-year-old leads all NHL goalies with 105 total wins over the past three seasons and has also racked up an impressive 34 victories and six shutouts in playoff action during that stretch. Despite those spectacular numbers, Vasilevskiy has previously claimed the Vezina Trophy on just one occasion and is chased on the Vezina Trophy odds by the two most recent winners of the award.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck claimed the Vezina Trophy in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign and sits second to Vasilevskiy as a +1000 wager at sports betting sites. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury closely follows, joining Philipp Grubauer at +1100 odds.
Hellebuyck played a key role in the Jets' march to a third-place finish in the North Division despite failing to maintain the torrid statistical pace he set on his way to winning the Vezina in 2019-20. The 28-year-old tallied just 24 wins last season and could face a long campaign ahead in Winnipeg, which sits off the pace as a +4000 bet on the Stanley Cup odds.
Changes in scenery could complicate matters for both Fleury and Grubauer. Fleury enjoyed the benefit of playing last season in Vegas, which led the NHL with 40 wins, and may find victories harder to come by after being dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks, who tallied just 24 total wins last season, and sit as a +5000 wager on the Stanley Cup futures. Grubauer trailed only Vasilevskiy while tallying 30 wins in Colorado last season, but is likely to struggle to duplicate his sparkling numbers in his new home with the expansion Seattle Kraken.
It is a much closer race on the odds to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenceman. Avalanche rearguard Cale Makar leads the way as +500 chalk, just ahead of Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman at +550, and reigning Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox at +600. The trio finished this past season among the leaders in defenceman scoring. However, Makar's point per game average over his 44 appearances gives him the clear edge.
Further down the Norris Trophy odds, New Jersey's Dougie Hamilton leads the best of the rest at +1100, just ahead of Charlie McAvoy and Quinn Hughes at +1200.
