Vasilevskiy, Kuemper, Hellebuyck, Early Vezina Trophy Favourites: NHL Props, Odds

Jordan Ramsay
Last Updated: October 8, 2021

The Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender, will have a lot of contenders in 2021-22. Former winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is a +362 favourite to win the award, but he’ll have stiff competition from the likes of Darcy Kuemper in Colorado and Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg. Take a look at our breakdown of the top Vezina candidates, including a value dark horse pick.

Make sure to check out Sports Interaction’s NHL props, NHL futures and NHL games pages for a full list of odds.

Andrei Vasilevskiy +362

Vasilevskiy is poised to be a Vezina Trophy candidate for the next several years. The Russian goalie won the award in 2019 and was a runner-up last year. Vasilevskiy started 42 games in 2021, going 31-10-1, with a 2.21 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. His 31 wins, including five shutouts, was a league-high and he was second in Goals Saved Above Average (20.96). This is a goalie coming off two straight Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021. Vasilevskiy has one of the NHL’s best rosters in front of him and barring any injury problems, it would be shocking if he’s not at least finalist for the Vezina this year.

Darcy Kuemper +748

After being buried in the Arizona desert for the last few years, Kuemper is finally getting a chance on a team with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations. Last season’s stats for Colorado’s new No. 1 goalie don’t jump off the page at you, but he has a lot of potential with a solid team in front of him. Kuemper finished last season with a 10-11-3 record, two shutouts, a 2.56 GAA and .902 SV. Keep in mind though, that’s on a terrible Coyotes team. Kuemper only allowed one goal in two of those losses and he allowed more than three goals in just four games. With backup Pavel Francouz already dealing with injury issues, Kuemper is in line to get a majority of the starts with much better offensive and defensive support in front of him than he got in Arizona. If Kuemper stays healthy, he could have a career-year.

Connor Hellebuyck +900

Another former Vezina winner, Hellebuyck’s off-year last season was still good by most goalies’ standards. Hellebuyck was forced to play a league-high 46-games in front of a weak Winnipeg defence because of the inconsistency of the Jets as a team. He still managed to finish with a .916 save percentage and four shutouts. Hellebuyck was the main reason Winnipeg was able to sweep the Oilers in the first round, as he held superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to a combined three goals. The Jets should have a much stronger defence this year and with Hellebuyck likely to be named Team USA’s starting goalie in the Olympics, there’s a lot for him to play for.

Dark Horse Candidate

Semyon Varlamov (+1900) – It’s tough to even consider Semyon Varlamov as a dark horse, considering he finished last year with a league-best (among goalies with at least 25 starts) .929 SV and seven shutouts (tied with Marc-Andre Fleury). His 2.04 GAA last season was third-best in the NHL and he partnered with Ilya Sorokin for the second-lowest team GAA (2.03) per game. Varlamov is on a very defensively structured team and Sorokin can carry enough of the work load to help prevent Varlamov wearing down. If the Islanders are near the top of the regular season standings, Varlamov could be in line for the Vezina.