Vezina Trophy - History

History

The Vezina Trophy was named in honor of Georges Vezina, an exceptional goaltender with the Montreal Canadiens. Vezina collapsed during a game in 1925 and was diagnosed as having tuberculosis, of which he died in 1926. Upon Vezina's death, the trophy was donated to the League by the Canadiens' owners, Leo Dandurand, Louis Letourneau and Joe Cattarinich to honour Vezina permanently. It was first awarded at the end of the 1926–27 NHL season to George Hainsworth who had come to Montreal to succeed Vezina..

The trophy was accepted by the league at its May 15, 1927 meeting in Montreal. The criteria for winning was variously reported. The Montreal Gazette and The Globe and Mail reported that it was 'to be awarded each year to the goalkeeper in the National Hockey League having the best (goals against) average,' while the Toronto Star reported that the trophy went to the 'most valuable' goaltender in the league. When Hainsworth won his third Vezina at the end of the 1928-29 NHL season, the trophy was reported to be for the 'most outstanding' goaltender in the league. However, later reports state that the trophy was based on the lowest goals against average (GAA).

The Vezina Trophy was quite prestigious, as it was one of the three major personal awards given out by the National Hockey League at the time, along with the Hart Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy. The hockey media would closely follow a tight "Vezina Trophy race," such as in 1940–41 when Frank Brimsek, Turk Broda, and Johnny Mowers were separated by only three goals entering the final weekend of the season.

In February of 1946, the NHL officially stated that the trophy was to go to the team that allowed the fewest number of goals during the regular season. The goaltender playing the most games for that team would be awarded the Trophy. Manager Tommy Gorman of the Montreal Canadiens stated that if the trophy was awarded to his team, that the manner of awarding the trophy to Bibeault or Durnan would be decided by his management. However at a banquet that October, National Hockey League President Clarence Campbell indicated that while the league was considering changing the voting methods of the Calder Memorial Trophy, the Hart Trophy and the Lady Byng Trophy, the criteria for the Vezina was not actually changing.

Since it was common for goaltenders to start every game before 1950, the Vezina usually went to the goaltender with the lowest personal goals against average in the league; however, there were two notable exceptions. George Hainsworth was awarded the inaugural trophy, while Clint Benedict had the lowest GAA in 1926–27. Hainsworth's Canadiens allowed fewer goals as a team than Benedict's Senators. Wilf Cude had the lowest GAA in 1933–34 in 30 games split between two clubs, but the Vezina was awarded to Charlie Gardiner who started all 48 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, the team that allowed the fewest goals.

The National Hockey League lengthened the schedule to 70 games starting in 1949–50. Before then, it was very common for a goaltender to play every minute of his team's season, and only three Vezina winners - Frank Brimsek in both 1938–39 (43 of 48 games) and 1941–42 (47 of 48 games) and Bill Durnan in 1944–45 (40 of 50 games) failed to start every game for their respective clubs.

As teams started to regularly use more than one goaltender in a season, it became more common for the goaltender with the lowest GAA to not be a member of the team that allowed the fewest goals. The Vezina continued to be awarded to the goaltender who started the most games for the team that allowed the fewest goals, but the Vezina winners of 1954–55, 1960–61, 1962–63 and 1963–64 did not have the lowest GAAs.

The National Hockey League began allowing teammates to split the Vezina trophy following the 1964-65 NHL season. The Toronto Maple Leafs allowed 173 goals against, barely beating out the Montreal Canadiens' 175 goals against and the Chicago Blackhawks' 176 goals against. Terry Sawchuk played 36 games for the Leafs with a GAA of 2.56, while his teammate Johnny Bower played 34 games with a league-leading GAA of 2.38, but Sawchuk was to be the sole winner under the old criteria. During the season, the two agreed to split the $1000 prize money that came with the trophy if either of them won. At the end of the season, Sawchuk publicly stated that he would refuse the trophy if Bower would not also have his name inscribed. The NHL subsequently changed the rule to allow any goaltender who played a minimum of 25 games to qualify for the Vezina if his team allowed the fewest goals against, and applied this rule retroactively to Sawchuk and Bower. Under this criteria, Turk Broda would have shared the Vezina that Al Rollins won in 1950–51. This criterion was in place until 1980–81.

The old Vezina criteria had the trophy going to the goaltender(s) of the team that was best at preventing goals, not necessarily the best individual performance. The best goaltender, as voted by the media, was the NHL First Team All-Star. These often differed, such as in 1979–80 when Don Edwards and Bob Sauve shared the Vezina while Tony Esposito was named to the First Team.

As of the 1981-82 NHL season, the Vezina Trophy has been given to the most outstanding goaltender as voted by the general managers of the NHL teams. Billy Smith of the New York Islanders was the first winner of the Vezina under the current system. The William M. Jennings Trophy, given to the goaltender(s) who play(s) more than 25 games for the team that allows the fewest goals, serves the function of the old Vezina.

The voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by the 30 general managers of the teams in the National Hockey League, and each individual voter ranks their top three candidates on a 5-3-1 points system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.