Igor Shesterkin had a great season with the Rangers and won the Vezina Trophy, the award for the best goaltender in the NHL. However, this outcome was expected by many – in the end, our goalkeeper had practically no competitors.

But the fact that the Russian did not get another, even more prestigious award – the Hart Trophy, caused many questions among the fans. Igor deserves more recognition!

Shesterkin had no competitors

Officially, Shesterkin became a contender for Vezina a month ago, but they began to talk about his absolute dominance at the last frontier in the middle of the season, when he literally dragged the Rangers to the playoffs. And in the Stanley Cup games, Shesterkin didn’t let us down: he started with a record of 79 saves in the series with Pittsburgh, and then unexpectedly survived two substitutions, but quickly returned to his best form. In the semi-final series with Tampa, the Russian was the mainstay of the Rangers.

Photo: © REUTERS / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

At the end of the season, Shesterkin is absolutely the best in terms of statistics among all goalkeepers. He saved an average of 93.5% of shots on goal and showed a safety factor of 2.07.

Igor became the third Russian in history to win the prize for the best goalkeeper. All the victories of our goalkeepers fell on the last 9 years, and Sergei Bobrovsky made his debut as a winner, having won two Vezinas. Another prestigious award on Andrey Vasilevsky’s account.

Now it’s Shesterkin’s time. He got 29 first places out of 32, beating Jacob Markstrom of Calgary by 101 points – a real abyss that shows that the Russian had no competitors.

“What else could Shesterkin have done to win the Hart?”

But the fans were not satisfied with the results of the festive evening. No one began to argue with the well-deserved Vezina, but many people started discussions on social networks, arguing that Shesterkin should have taken another prize – the Hart Trophy, which is awarded to the most useful player of the season.

This year, he went to Toronto forward Auston Matthews, who for the first time in 10 years overcame the mark of 60 goals in a season. On his account – 1630 points and 119 first places from sports journalists.

Auston Matthews / Photo: © Nathan Denette / Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press

NHL superstar Conor McDavid, who led the season with an impressive 123 points, came in second in the voting. Shesterkin – only on the third. 24 times he was put in first place, 26 – in second and 41 – in third.

“I don’t understand what else Shesterkin could have done this season to win the Hart,” @ChelneyAndrew was indignant. – He was the best goalkeeper and the main reason why the team was successful in the regular season. Matthews is phenomenal, but Shesterkin deserved the prize more.

“Imagine how few brain cells you need to have in order not to vote for Igor in the Hart nomination,” @idkjustyelling quipped.

“Without him, the Rangers would have had nothing to do in the playoffs”

While many hockey fans have agreed that NHL goaltenders are traditionally less likely to be given the Heart, someone has turned to statistics to prove the unfairness of the division of votes:

“Igor has better stats than Corey Price had when he won the Hart,” wrote @92Ih82, remembering the 2014/15 season when the Montreal goaltender won the MVP award. – And this despite the fact that this season is much more productive.

However, in terms of the reliability coefficient, Price had a better season (1.96 vs. 2.07), but in terms of the percentage of throws, he really lost by 0.2.

Some fans complained that Shesterkin and Matthews showed such outstanding results in the same season – and Igor lost to Oston only because strikers are rated higher than players of other roles by default.

“Igor would never have been able to win the Hart, given how much Matthews has accumulated, but without his efforts in the playoffs, the Rangers would have nothing to do,” WLoveYouGoalie wrote.

“If Matthews hadn’t scored 60 goals, Igor would have got Hart,” suggested @bignumber55.

“Hart” is not about the best player in the league “

Finally, some fans were quick to point out the true meaning of the Hart Trophy:

“Great, I mean Matthews is the Toronto MVP, despite the fact that the team did great without him when he was out due to injury. Hart is not about the best player in the league, but about the most valuable player on the team. Just change the meaning already, otherwise everyone just chooses the best hockey player of the season,” @MKhronas wrote.

– Matthews is the best player in the league, but Shesterkin was the most useful for his team. He should have won the Hart,” reasoned @wwright88.

“I respect Matthews, he had a brilliant season, but here’s what I think: Toronto without him is still a playoff-level team. But the Rangers were not even close to the Stanley Cup without Igor. That’s why he should have won the Hart,” shared @Laf4MVP.

It is curious that Shesterkin himself did not seem to think about the MVP prize for the season, having predicted in advance that Matthews and McDavid would fight for him. For him, something else was more important:

“I’m glad I didn’t miss out on Matthews,” the Russian said. How much did he drop? 60? It’s just space.