The Blue Paint: Who wins the quarter season Vezina?
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discuss who Mike would pick as the quarterly Vezina Trophy winner in this week’s segment of ‘The Blue Paint.’
Frank Seravalli: Alright Mike, it is time for this week’s edition of ‘The Blue Paint’ with some goaltending talk and that is delivered by DoorDash. Mike, we’ve reached the quarter portion of the season, I’m going to ask you to put your GM hat on for a second and pretend like you’re voting for the Vezina Trophy. Who would be getting your quarter-season Vezina?
Mike McKenna: I’m checking the box for Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders. Frank, you’re looking pretty smart right now, he was your pick for Vezina at the start of the year and I said, “Nah I don’t think so.” Well guess who’s in a playoff spot and guess who’s leading them? It’s Ilya Sorokin. He’s got a .933 save percentage and he’s 7-2 in November but it’s really just his consistency that I’ve seen Frank. 10 or 15 starts he’s allowed two goals or less and I always added that as a personal goal. If I allowed two or less, I had a chance. This save against Marner the other night, was a rebound save, he moves left to right and gets his blocker on it.
What I love is his balance Frank, a lot of goalies end up on their butt or on their chest making this style of save. Whether Sorokin is on his knees or standing he’s so well-balanced that he gives himself a chance to get the biggest blocking surface he can in front of the puck, rotating, all those things we talk about in goalie camps. I thought it was really capped off recently with a 49-save shutout against Edmonton, and a couple of nights before he beat Toronto in that game.
I think if you’re looking at the Vezina right now Frank you’re looking at Hellebuyck, Ullmark, and some people saying, Logan Thompson. Those guys are all top-15 if you look at moneypuck.com when it comes to what their team’s expected 5-on-5 goal percentage is. They all live in a comfortable environment defensively, but that’s not Sorokin. This team, the islanders are 29th in expected 5-on-5 goal percentage. He’s well outplaying his team and he’s easily been their most valuable player which is why I think he’s the top Vezina pick right now.
You can watch the full episode here…