2023 NHL Vezina Trophy Betting Odds

Each season the NHL awards the Vezina Trophy to the league’s most outstanding goalie.

The Vezina Trophy was created in memory of the Montreal Canadiens goaltender George Vezina, who in 1925 collapsed on the ice during a game and unfortunately passed away several months later from tuberculosis.

Last year, Marc-Andre Fleury was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender and was promptly traded by Vegas to the Chicago Blackhawks before this season started.

This was actually the sixth time that a Vezina Trophy winner started the following season with a different team.

This year, names like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Connor Hellebuyck, and Sergei Bobrovsky, all previous Vezina Trophy winners, were expected to be in contention once again.

However, as the season has played out, one name above all others has jumped to the top of the Vezina Trophy betting odds list, a dark horse who wasn’t even in consideration for the award by many experts before this year started.

How Is The NHL Vezina Trophy Decided?

Currently, the Vezina Trophy voting is done by the 32 NHL General Managers. The award is given to the goalie who is judged to be the best goaltender across the entire league.

The Vezina Trophy at one time was given to the goalies of the team with the best Goals Against Average. (GAA) Starting in the 1981-’82 season, the criteria were switched from the team with the lowest GAA to the current format.

2022 NHL Vezina Trophy Futures Report

The Favorites

Igor Shesterkin – Early into this season, Shesterkin was hardly on anyone’s radar as a Vezina candidate. Over 50 games later and the former 4th-Round pick has vaulted to the top of the Vezina odds list.

With a GAA well under 2.00 and a .940 Save %, Shesterkin is not only being talked about as a Vezina finalist but is also getting a lot of consideration for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

Jacob Markstrom – The team total points set by oddsmakers for the Calgary Flames this year was 92.5. Traditionally that would make the Flames a bubble team for the playoffs.

Instead, Calgary hit 75 points with almost 25 games remaining and appears to be headed for the Pacific Division title.

With a GAA just above 2.10 and a Save Percentage just under .930, Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom gets a lot of the credit in Calgary for the team’s turnaround.

The Flames signed Markstrom at the beginning of last season and after a shaky start to his Calgary career, the 6’6” netminder has not disappointed.

Andrei Vasilevskiy – The Tampa Bay Lightning are the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions and at this point of his career, Andrei Vasilevskiy needs no introduction to hockey fans.

The former 2012 first-round pick has already won back-to-back Stanley Cups, a Vezina Trophy, and a Conn Smythe Trophy.

Adding more hardware to his already large collection wouldn’t surprise many hockey fans already familiar with just how good Vasilevskiy really is.

The Contenders

Juuse Saros – Not only is Juuse Saros posting stats that are Vezina Trophy worthy, but he is also in contention as the best player in the league many fans haven’t yet heard of.

For years Pekka Rinne roamed the Nashville crease and taking over for Rinne in Nashville’s net comes with high expectations.

This year, Saros has already started over 30 games in Nashville for the fourth straight season. After a couple of mediocre years with the Predators to start his career, the Finnish netminder turned heads last year, posting a 2.28 GAA and .927 Save %.

If Nashville can hold on for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, Saros will be one of the main reasons why.

Frederik Andersen – Toronto Maple Leaf’s fans were fortunate enough to watch Freddie Andersen patrol the crease for five seasons.

When Andersen became a free agent last off-season, Toronto showed very little effort trying to re-sign him.

Toronto’s loss is Carolina’s gain. Andersen has been everything Carolina had hoped for and then some. With a GAA just above 2.00 and a Save Percentage flirting with .930, the former third-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks has lived up to his new contract with the Hurricanes and then some.

Jonathan Quick – For 10 consecutive seasons Jonathan Quick posted a better than .900 Save Percentage for the Los Angeles Kings.

In the 2018-’19 season, the Kings netminder found himself below .900 and has struggled with his form since then.

This year, LA is surprising a lot of people by battling for the top spot in the Pacific Division.

A large part of their success comes from Quick having a bounce-back year and once again seeing his Save Percentage climb north of .900.

The Longshots

Ilya Sorokin – Only Juuse Saros, Jacob Markstrom, and Freddie Andersen have more starts and a better Save Percentage than the NY Islanders Ilya Sorokin.

Maybe the biggest issue holding Sorokin back from his first Vezina Trophy is the fact that his Islanders are a playoff afterthought in the Eastern Conference.

Statistically, Sorokin finds himself with the league leaders in GAA and Save Percentage. He also has five shutouts with still over 25 games left in the season.

However, where the former third-round pick doesn’t compare to the league leaders is in total wins. Currently, Sorokin trails Vasilevskiy, Andersen, Bobrovsky, and others by 10 or more wins. That is going to make his Vezina chances tough.

Thatcher Demko – For seven seasons Jacob Markstrom was a fixture in the Vancouver Canucks net and for the last five seasons Markstrom performed his job at a very high level.

When Vancouver decided to let Markstrom walk away in free agency, Thatcher Demko was thrust into the Canucks spotlight.

In his second season as the primary backstopper in Vancouver, Demko has been as good as the Canucks management had hoped when they let Markstrom walk.

Despite a start to this season that resulted in a coaching change for his team the 2014 second-round pick has been very good over his first 40 starts and has posted a Save Percentage flirting with .920%.

Vezina Trophy Futures Betting

Futures betting is all about being well researched, informed, and ahead of the betting market.

Many hockey fans at the beginning of this season knew that Igor Shesterkin was going to be a good NHL goalie.

But there are lots of good NHL goalies and Shesterkin looked like many other candidates before the season started.

By the end of the first month of the season, Shesterkin’s odds had dropped from +2100 to +1200. Obviously, it was becoming apparent that he was a very good goalie.

For those who were watching that first month and knew how good Shesterkin was, +1200 are still very good odds, and obviously if you compare those to his current odds they look great.

Playing in the futures market is all about spotting trends earlier than the market. Anyone can spot a goalie playing great after 40 games of the season.

Who can spot those great goalies after 15-20 games and buy them at their Best Odds?

Where Can You Bet On NHL Vezina Futures?

As the US and Canadian sports betting landscape continues to legalize and open up, the competition between sportsbooks to earn your business has never been more fierce.

All reputable and legal sportsbooks are offering Vezina futures bets and NHL bets of all sorts.

The best thing that any sports bettor can do to give themselves a big edge over the house, is to exploit the many bonus offerings being offered.

Not only does this allow a bettor to gamble with free bonus money, but having multiple accounts set up will allow them to shop for the best available odds.

How To Place An NHL Vezina Futures Bet

To place an NHL MVP futures bet, here are the steps that you need to follow:

If you don’t already have accounts set-up, choose a sportsbook with a bonus offer that excites you the most. Create and log in to your sports betting account.
Click on NHL betting.
Within the NHL betting section, go to “awards.”. This might also be called “Futures” or “Player Futures”.
Click on the “Vezina Trophy” market.
Select the goalie that you think will win the Vezina award.
Lastly, enter your wager amount and confirm your bet.
Don’t forget to track all of your bets on a spreadsheet or tracking method of your choice. This will allow you to look back in time and learn from all your previous bets.

2022 NHL Vezina Trophy History

From 1946 until 1981, the Vezina Trophy award was given to the goalie with the lowest GAA in the league.

At the time it was not uncommon for a goalie to play every game and every minute during a season for his team.

As the schedule was expanded and teams began deploying multiple goaltenders during the course of a season, the league changed its rules to allow for more than one goalie from the same team to win the award.

The 1964 Toronto Maple Leafs had Terry Sawchuk and Johnny Bower sharing the crease, with both goalies putting up outstanding numbers.

When Sawchuk stated that he would not accept the Vezina Trophy if Bower also didn’t have his name inscribed, the league changed its rules.

In the 1981 season, the team with the lowest GAA was no longer the criteria for the Vezina Trophy.

Instead, it was decided that the award would go to the best goaltender within the league and that the 32 General Managers would be the only voters.

Season	NHL MVP	Team
2020-21	Marc-Andre Fleury	Vegas Golden Knights
2019-20	Connor Hellebuyck	Winnipeg Jets
2018-19	Andrei Vasilevskiy	Tampa Bay Lightning
2017-18	Pekka Rinne	Nashville Predators
2016-17	Sergei Bobrovsky	Columbus Blue Jackets
2015-16	Braden Holtby	Washington Capitals
2014-15	Carey Price	Montreal Canadiens
2013-14	Tuukka Rask	Boston Bruins
2012-13	Sergei Bobrovsky	Columbus Blue Jackets
2011-12	Henrik Lundqvist	New York Rangers

Most Vezina Trophy Awards Since 1981-’82

Player Total	Total
Dominik Hasek	6
Martin Brodeur	4
Patrick Roy	3
Ed Belfour	2
Tim Thomas	2
Sergei Bobrovsky	2