Illegal Curve Hockey

Backstrom, Mason, Thomas vie for Vezina

From NHL.com:

Steve Mason, the brilliant young goalie of the Columbus Blue Jackets, could become only the fifth NHL player to win the Vezina and Calder trophies in the same year.

But he’ll have to beat out the Minnesota Wild’s Niklas Backstrom, and Tim Thomas, whose league-leading goals-against average was a driving force for the Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins this season.

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I think this is a two horse race between Thomas and Mason but it is going to be a duel down to the wire to select a winner. Thomas, the 35 yr old has led his team from 8th to 1st and Mason the rookie has taken his team from out of post season contention to the first playoffs in franchise history. A fan poll of NHL.com has the winner to be:

Steve Mason:

30.55 %

Tim Thomas:

52.48 %

Niklas Backstrom:

16.97 %

Who would you select as this year’s Vezina winner?

David Minuk

Working hard on a daily basis to provide the latest Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose news for our readers and listeners. I also appear on the Illegal Curve Hockey Show every Saturday on our YouTube channel as well as the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show after every single Jets game. And I occasionally jump in the play-by-play booth at Canada Life to provide colour analysis during Manitoba Moose games.