The Vezina Trophy, as voted on by the NHL's 30 General Managers, is presented to the goalie judged to be the most valuable to his team. Some of the best of all time have been presented this trophy, including Martin Brodeur, who has won three out of the last four. However, late this afternoon, I'm hearing from a league source that there will be a new name for this award: the Valiquette?
Steve Valiquette: he's 30 year old backup to Henrik Lundvqist of the New York Rangers. He's played on three NHL teams over seven seasons, previously with the crosstown Islanders and Edmonton Oilers. Although he has just 7 wins in those seasons, including his first career shutout last night, he is universally praised as one of the great goalies of this era.
One annoymous scout's take on this legend: "He (Valiquette) can do it all. Despite his tremendous size, his game is very quick and smooth. It's almost hard to assign a style of play to him. He just does so much well. His reflexes are top notch and his rebound control is phenominal."
Despite having only 7 wins at the age of 30, the NHL felt that it was best to make the trophy change now. He's just a late bloomer, and by the time he's in his late 30's and 40's, he'll be doing things guys like Roy and Hasek could only dream of.
On a side note, I think the Antero Niittymagic might be over.
No comments:
Post a Comment