We are going to be running a series highlighting the greatest award injustices (situations where the winner of an award clearly should not have been the victor) in New York sports history. We will be doing this in both directions-where a New York player was not given the award even when he was the superior player, and when a New York player was given the award even though there was a better option available. Today we will be examining...
Dominik Hasek's victory over Martin Brodeur for the 1996-97 Vezina Trophy
The Vezina Trophy, named after 1920's goaltender Georges Vezina, is awarded to the best goalie in the league. It is basically the CY Young of NHL awards, since goalies rarely win the Hart Trophy (the NHL's MVP award), winning the Vezina is the crowning achievement of a successful season. During the 1996-97 season there were two clear candidates for the Vezina, Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres, and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Their stats follow-
1996-97 Stats- Games Played Wins Losses Ties Shutouts GAA Save %
Dominik Hasek- 67 37 20 10 5 2.27 .930
Martin Brodeur- 67 37 14 13 10 1.88 .927
Brodeur and Hasek had remarkably similar seasons. They started the same amount of games, won the same amount of games had save percentages within .003 of each other. And yet Hasek won the Vezina trophy and he won it handily. Not only did Brodeur win the same amount of games as Hasek, but he last lost 6 fewer and tied 3 more, giving him a much better overall record. However, the two most vital parts of Brodeur's argument in favor of winning the Vezina over Hasek are his goals against average and the amount of shutouts he had. Brodeur's goals against average of 1.88, easily the lowest of any goaltender of the 96-97 seasonis incredibly impressive and nearly half a goal better than Hasek's GAA. Many people argue that, like ERA in baseball, GAA is heavily dependent on the defense in front of you but even so, a GAA that low is indicative of an amazing goaltender not just the caliber of his defense. The 10 shutouts that Brodeur had during the 1996-97 season also speak to the high-level that he was playing at.Having twice as many shutouts as Hasek, while playing the same amount of games lead me to believe that Brodeur was the better stopper that season.
Hasek went on to win three Vezina trophies, from the 1996-97 season through the 1998-99 season, while Brodeur was held without a Vezina until the 2002-2003 season. That Brodeur had to wait that long for his first Vezina is one of the greatest injustices in New York hockey history, especially since he should have had it won in the 1996-97 season.
-Mose
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