The National Hockey League has announced three finalists who have voted for the Hart Trophy, the season’s most valuable hockey player award. The top three contenders for the most prestigious individual award are Toronto winger and heir to his sniping successes, Alexander Ovechkin. auston matthewsEdmonton Superstar Connor McDavid and goalie for the New York Rangers Igor Shesterkin.

In fact, the owner of “Hart” has already been determined, because the votes of hockey journalists (that is, they vote for the winner) are made after the end of the regular season. But the name of the season’s MVP has not been revealed – it will be announced much later (after the conclusion of the conference finals in the Stanley Cup), and the award itself was handed out at the traditional ceremony after its end. from the playoffs.

Having a goalkeeper and even a Russian in the top three finalists is a historic moment. To qualify for Hart, the goalkeeper must be above and beyond everyone else and relentlessly amaze the public with his reliability and stability. In the NHL’s century-long history, only 7 goalkeepers have won the MVP title, and four of its winners have played before the big expansion period.

Heart Cup winners:

1929 – Roy Worters (New York Americans)
1950 – Chuck Reiner (New York Rangers)
1954 – Al Rollins (“Chicago”)
1962 – Jacques Factory (Montreal)
1997, 1998 – Dominik Hasek (Buffalo)
2002 – Jose Theodore (Montreal)
2015 – Price of Carey (Montreal)
2022 – Igor Shesterkin?

Shesterkin also became a finalist in the vote for Vezina – the award for the best goalkeeper, but a victory within her role, of course, will be less valuable. Igor had 52 wins in the regular season, his save percentage (93.5%) was the best among goalkeepers, and he was third in the number of clean sheets (6). No goalie has beaten him in above-average saves (26.3 according to the Natural Stat Trick).

The Russian goalkeeper has never claimed “Hart” – top of the vote was Semyon Varlamov, when Colorado posted a concert championship in the 2013/2014 season led by Patrick Roy. Varlamov then took fifth place, and this figure was perceived as too high. Now Shesterkin is not only the first domestic goalkeeper Hart has in his personal collection, but also the fifth player in Rangers history to become MVP and the first player after the famed Mark Messier to receive the award 30 years ago.

Shesterkin made his first NHL starter role—and with immediate success. It appeared from the first minutes in only 64% of the matches, but it is clear that this did not affect the choice of voters. If voting had taken the playoffs into account, Igor’s chances would have been much less, as the Rangers goalie clearly didn’t participate in the first-round series against Pittsburgh. Even the fans of “Penguins” sarcastically shouted: “We want Igor!” hinted that the opponents really liked the unsuccessful game of the goalkeeper.

In that light, Game 6 of the series will be huge as the Rangers qualify for the summer golf tournament. Shesterkin changed in two games in a row: the Rangers defense was in complete chaos and the Russian himself conceded some extremely offensive goals. In the 3rd and 4th matches, Igor had a humiliating percentage of reflected shots – 77.8%, but he was able to make up for it with a victory in the fifth meeting.

Of course, Rangers must improve on all components of the game in Game Six if they want to continue on their way to the trophy. The team’s defensive play must have more systems in place, and defensive players’ positional errors more than once have allowed Pittsburgh to create dangerous positions. Star forwards Artemi Panarin, Ryan Stroum, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider are far from showing their best form in the playoffs. But besides that, the Blueshirts will only need the 31st issue to be named a finalist in the voting for the Hart Trophy.

“He was our best player all year. He kept us in the most difficult matches, gave us chances. He won the matches alone. It was supernatural. I don’t think Igor is one of those who lost his trust. We must continue to support each other.”noted Chris Crider.

Game number six for Shesterkin is a kind of “Hart Trophy” in miniature. And if he wins, it’ll be great to prolong the life of the New Yorkers in this series anyway. It will be extremely difficult for Igor to win a real Hart, as Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid are much more obvious candidates for victory.