The NHL has announced its top three candidates for the 2012 Vezina Trophy, presented for the top goaltending in the League. This year's finalsts are New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist, Nashville's Pekka Rinne, and Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick.
Lunqvists' honors include winning a career-high 39 games in 62 game appearances and leading the Rangers to the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 1993-94 season. He finished the regular season with a total of eight shutouts and a .930 save percentage.
Rinne completed five shutouts during the regular season and recorded an NHL-best 43 wins in 73 games. He faced the most shots in the league and has a .923 save percentage.
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Quick elevated Los Angeles--who was named the 'worst offensive team in the NHL' for a good portion of the season--to a playoff-contention team. He led the League with 10 shutouts under his belt, recording a .929 save percentage and 1.95 GAA. To top it off, he earned 35 of LA's 40 wins this season.
If you didn't know his name before, he sure is making quite the impression across the NHL for knocking the Canucks out of the playoffs and completely shutting them out during Game 3.
NHL.com even had a few words to say about Quick:
"His accomplishments came with almost no margin for error, as the Kings were 29th in the League in scoring at 2.29 goals per game. And while he had 34 losses in regulation, overtime or shootouts, the Kings scored two goals or fewer in 15 of them, and one goal or less in nine."
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Out of the three finalists, Quick is the most valuable to his team, and in my opinion, would be the clear choice. Who do you think should take this year's honors?