Jason Lewis: Redefining the Vezina Trophy

Nah, Mason stinks......just ask Milbury and JR

Its about time Mason got some props for the amazing season he had......playing behind that dreck of a defense.

Great, Great, article! I'd almost call this the 'Brodeur Debate'. He's a great goalie, no doubt, but a lot of people also point out the teams he's played on when the topic of best goalies of all time comes up. My pick will always be Hasek. It never seemed to matter what team that guy played on, he was always the best. Now? I'd go with Price still for last season. That could all change next year as well.

Great, Great, article! I'd almost call this the 'Brodeur Debate'. He's a great goalie, no doubt, but a lot of people also point out the teams he's played on when the topic of best goalies of all time comes up. My pick will always be Hasek. It never seemed to matter what team that guy played on, he was always the best. Now? I'd go with Price still for last season. That could all change next year as well.
- Gretz2Kurri

That's the thing people go on about brodeur playing behind that D, and fail to reason that he was a key reason why the Devils could play that way and that Roy had hall of fame defense in front of him too

Corey Schneider is a beast and will prove it this year. They need to redefine the Norris. I thought it was best defense men - DEFENSE - not best player on D that wishes he was a forward. Points are too glamorous.

Keith ( I love) is nowhere near the same class as Neidermayer, Stevens, Blake in terms of defense. They were defense men first. Same as Karlsson.

Create a new trophy true defense men.

And stop booing Bettman, the dude has balls and doesnt give in to players union.

And gas prices need to drop.

This is a fantastic article. Bravo!

Doesn't matter, Price FTW

That's the thing people go on about brodeur playing behind that D, and fail to reason that he was a key reason why the Devils could play that way and that Roy had hall of fame defense in front of him too
- dmarsden2988

You have to admit though, the 1995 New Jersey Devils basically changed the way the way the game was played. The NHL even had to change the rules (the red line, ect.)
to open up the game more. I watched how that team played in the playoffs and if they got the first goal of the game, that's all they needed to win. To your point, even if you did break through on and got to Brodeur, he'd stop almost everything. That Devils' team was one of the best of all time, in terms of team play. They also won me a lot of money from Detroit fans at work, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.

Why is it so terrible to look at the whole picture? Its ludicrous to determine a Vezina winner (or the winner of any trophy) by only looking at score adjusted 5 v 5 play. You even said "the best OVERALL statistical goaltender." I mean, you are deliberately and literally only choosing stats that support your argument here. You can't use the word OVERALL and then exclude specific scenarios, like special teams for instance. Mason deserved a vote or a few, but Carey Price deserved the award.

Didn't realize Schneider didn't get a single Vezina vote. Not saying he should have won, but that's surprising. You could argue he was not valuable to NJ because he single handily probably cost them McDavid or Eichel

Also didn't realize how good of a season Mason had. Good for him.

Why is it so terrible to look at the whole picture? Its ludicrous to determine a Vezina winner (or the winner of any trophy) by only looking at score adjusted 5 v 5 play. You even said "the best OVERALL statistical goaltender." I mean, you are deliberately and literally only choosing stats that support your argument here. You can't use the word OVERALL and then exclude specific scenarios, like special teams for instance. Mason deserved a vote or a few, but Carey Price deserved the award.
- sniper11

For the record, Mason had a .932 OVERALL adjusted save percentage. Price a .935.

.003 difference. Mason had nearly the same exact year as Price. You play the majority of the game at 5v5, so excluding scenario like a powerplay or penalty kill save percentage is generally more indicative of the quality because no team is at a natural advantage. Nevertheless, Mason still had a save percentage at overall play that was almost identical to Price. He had a 5v5 number that was better than Price by a slight margin.

Price and Mason...it really could have been a coin flip if you want to talk about quality of performance in 2014-15.

For the record, Mason had a .932 OVERALL adjusted save percentage. Price a .935.

.003 difference. Mason had nearly the same exact year as Price. You play the majority of the game at 5v5, so excluding scenario like a powerplay or penalty kill save percentage is generally more indicative of the quality because no team is at a natural advantage. Nevertheless, Mason still had a save percentage at overall play that was almost identical to Price. He had a 5v5 number that was better than Price by a slight margin.

Price and Mason...it really could have been a coin flip if you want to talk about quality of performance in 2014-15.
- Jason_Lewis

So you're saying that Mason is as good if not better than Price and deserves the Vezina as much if not more than Price?

So you're saying that Mason is as good if not better than Price and deserves the Vezina as much if not more than Price?
- WaterBoy

Price was the most valuable goaltender to his team this year, no question. Mason was as good a goaltender for his team this year as Price. I have no issues with Price winning this year's Vezina at all. However, it's a shame that Mason got almost no recognition for an equally impressive year statistically.

Price was the most valuable goaltender to his team this year, no question. Mason was as good a goaltender for his team this year as Price. I have no issues with Price winning this year's Vezina at all. However, it's a shame that Mason got almost no recognition for an equally impressive year statistically.
- Jason_Lewis

I can live with that.