Sergei Bobrovsky had a tremendous week; he played in three of four games, stopped 87 of 88 shots for an .989 save percentage, including back to back shutouts against Minnesota and New Jersey. For his efforts he was named the NHL’s second star of the week. He is the second Blue Jackets player this season, to win a player of the week award, joining Sam Gagner who was named the third star for the second week in December. Bobrovsky was also named the first star for the month of December, as the Blue Jackets went undefeated.
B O B #CBJ pic.twitter.com/3n3wPnMBUJ
— Buckeye State Hockey (@BuckeyeStHockey) March 6, 2017
Sergei Bobrovsky won his career-best 33rd game last night (in shutout fashion, too).#CBJ are 40-16-6 on the season. pic.twitter.com/PipQ6exv8R
— 1st Ohio Battery (@1stOhioBattery) March 3, 2017
Bobrovsky has been phenomenal all season and with that comes talk about the Vezina trophy. Looking through Bobrovsky’s stats relative to the league, he looks to be just outside that top tier of goalies. Look at where Bobrovsky ranks at 5 on 5 among goalies who have played 2000 minutes. Data via Corsica.
None of these numbers are bad, quite the opposite, but Bobrovksy ranks outside the top three in each category. The number that stands out the most here is the first one. Bob ranks fourth in 5 on 5 save percentage, the three goalies ahead of him are Braden Holtby, Devan Dubnyk, and Carey Price. As things currently stand, those three could easily be the Vezina nominees.
That is taking a more analytical approach to it; Bobrovsky’s case is built more around traditional statistics.
This is how Bobrovsky has performed among all goalies who have played at least 35 games this season. In terms of overall save percentage, Bobrovsky is tied with Holtby and behind Dubnyk. He’s right there in every other category including wins and GAA which voters seem to put a lot of weight on.
The Vezina is down to a four horse race. Dubnyk and Holtby are the clear front runners with Price and Bobrovsky just behind them. Bobrovsky has the edge over Price in traditional stats, but Price has the analytical edge. It’s going to make for a really close race down the stretch. If Bobrovsky is going to separate himself from Price and have a shot to win he needs to have a couple more weeks like the one he just had.
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