Since becoming a full time NHLer during the 2009-10 season, you’d be hard pressed to find a more consistently dominant goaltender than Tuukka Rask. Sure, he was a backup behind Tim Thomas for his first three seasons, but he was great in that role and has continued to be great ever since as a starter.
The Bruins have been one of the NHL’s most dominant teams during Rask’s tenure, and he is a big part of that. The 2013-14 Vezina Trophy winner truly has not had a bad season since coming into the league, posting numbers that keep him in the Vezina conversation almost every year, including this past season where he was one of the three finalists.
Recently, there have been some rumors regarding Rask’s future with the Bruins, many of which were a result of him opting out of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Though the reason was validated as he had a family issue to tend to, it brought up further concerns he himself had raised about whether or not he wanted to continue playing hockey.
However, Rask has recently come out saying he is excited and ready to go for the 2020-21 season, which is great news for Bruins fans. Look for him to be in the Vezina hunt once again.
At this point, there isn’t much that can even be said about the brilliance of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Some of his detractors will argue that playing on the Tampa Bay Lightning benefits him in a big way and he would not be the same goalie on a different team. The first part of that is certainly true, but regardless of which team he is on, Vasilevskiy would still be very near, if not at the top of this list.
One stat in particular that shows Vasilevskiy’s greatness is that he completed all 52 of the games he started this past season, going 35-14-3 during the 2019-20 regular season with a stellar 2.56 Goals Against Average and a .917 Save Percentage.
While no goalie ever wants to be taken out, it is almost guaranteed to happen a few times a season when they or the team have an off-night. However, that wasn’t the case for the 26-year-old, who was locked in and ready to go during every single start he had last season.
The one area of Vasilevskiy’s game that was questioned prior to this last postseason was his ability to continue his regular season dominance in the Playoffs. He certainly proved himself during his team’s 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff Championship, as he easily could have been rewarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy.
He absolutely dominated inside The Bubble, standing on his head for his team on a number of occasions, finishing the postseason with a 18-7-0 record to go with a 1.90 Goals Against Average and a .927 Save Percentage.
His age, paired with how great his team is, means he will continue to be the best or on a short list of best goalies in the league for a long time to come. The 2018-19 Vezina winner has a great shot at winning that Trophy again in 2020-21, and maybe even another Stanley Cup.