It's safe to say Jonathan Quick has had a pretty good month of June.
After backstopping the Los Angeles Kings to the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, he also became just the third American to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That's some heavy hardware, but he could add to his load on Wednesday night at the 2012 NHL Awards show at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas.
Quick is one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender. He's up against New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Nashville Predators netminder Pekka Rinne. Here's SWR's take on who should and will win on Wednesday night.
Who should win: The numbers tell us very little here. Rinne was the league's wins leader with 43, but Lundqvist had the highest save percentage among the three finalists at .930, and Quick's 1.95 goals-against average was lowest among goaltenders playing 60 games or more. Team success at the time of voting favored Lundqvist, who backstopped the Rangers to the best record in the Eastern Conference and was voted the team MVP for the sixth consecutive season. Team success from where we sit on June 20, of course, is a very different story, but this is meant to be a regular season award. The truth is that there's really no wrong answer between Quick and Lundqvist, but we'll say Lundqvist because he's waited his turn to be called the best goalie in the league, and there should be more time for Quick in the future.
Who will win: Lundqvist. The fact that Lundqvist was nominated for both MVP awards (Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award) should be an indicator of which way the wind is blowing among the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, which votes on both the Vezina and the Hart. Quick has an excellent case as well, but Lundqvist is the more likely choice.
