Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman is off to an outstanding start to the season, making him one of the favorites to win the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Vezina Trophy.
If he achieves the feat, he would become the first goalkeeper to succeed a second masked man in the same team since the criteria changed in 1982. His teammate Linus Ullmark received the honor in 2022-23.
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Some players have managed to win the selection two or three years in a row with the same team, but it would be unheard of for two different goalkeepers from the same club to achieve this in a row.
Sitting atop Bettman’s rankings with a goals-against average of 1.69 and an efficiency rate of .944, the 24-year-old American has six wins, including one by shutout, in seven starts. His only defeat in the 2023-2024 season. it happened last Saturday when head coach Jim Montgomery’s team lost 3-2 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Center.
Boston is second in the NHL, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights, with an 11-1-2 record. The club, however, played one game less than the current Stanley Cup winners.
Until 1981, the Vezina Trophy was awarded to goaltenders who played at least 25 games for the team that conceded the fewest goals during the season. In 1982, the William M. Jennings Trophy appropriated those terms.
The honor, named after former Canadian goaltender Georges Vézina, has since been awarded to the league’s best goaltender as voted by NHL team general managers.
