With his next win, the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy will become the quickest goaltender to reach 300 career NHL wins, obliterating a record held by Hall of Famer Jacques Plante that has stood for 61 years.
If Vasilevskiy is the winner Friday in Minnesota, he will reach 300 wins in 487 games. It took Plante, a seven-time Vezina Trophy winner and six-time Stanley Cup winner, 521 games to reach that mark. He was 34 at the time. Vasilevskiy is 30.
For Vasilevskiy, the milestone would add to what is already a Hall of Fame-worthy resume that includes two Stanley Cup championships, a Conn Smythe Trophy and a Vezina Trophy. But it also would show exactly how much Vasilevskiy has meant to the Lightning’s success over a decade-plus of wearing a Tampa Bay uniform.
Putting 300 wins into context
Many hockey records are difficult to put into historical context because the game’s eras differ so much. During Plante’s heyday with the Canadiens, with whom he played from 1952-63, Montreal claimed the Stanley Cup five straight times and six over seven years, but the league had only six teams, compared with 32 today.
It could be argued that it is easier to compile wins now because goaltenders can add to their total through shootouts, while ties were regular occurrences until 2005. Plante had 145 career ties, so some of those would have been wins in today’s game and led to a quicker path to 300 victories.
Reaching 300 used to be a precursor to a Hall of Fame induction. When Andy Moog reached the milestone in 526 games in the 1993-94 season, it at the time was the second-fastest pace behind Plante. Moog was the 10th player to reach the mark, and eight of the previous nine were in the Hall. The ninth, Rogie Vachon, was inducted in 2016. Moog retired in 1998 with 372 wins.
There are 39 members of the 300-win club. If you take away the three active players — the Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury, the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky and the Rangers’ Jonathan Quick — and three retired goaltenders not yet eligible for the Hall — Carey Price, Craig Anderson and Tuukka Rask — 15 members of the 300-win club haven’t been inducted. They include Curtis Joseph, whose 454 wins rank seventh; Chris Osgood (401 wins, 13th); and Ryan Miller (391, 16th).
An incredible win pace
Some tremendous goaltenders are in this era. Fleury, who has said he will retire at the end of this season, has 563 wins and will end his career as the second-winningest goaltender of all time, trailing Martin Brodeur (691). Bobrovsky became the fastest goaltender to reach 400 career wins last week in his 707th game, passing Henrik Lundqvist’s mark of 727.
Carolina’s Frederik Andersen could also surpass Plante’s mark soon, entering Thursday with 298 wins in 499 games. Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck isn’t far behind, 18 wins shy of 300 with 513 games played.
But when you look at the pace of winning over the first part of a career, Vasilevskiy has no peers. Starting in 2016-17, when Vasilevskiy became the Lightning’s full-time starter in his age 22 season, no goaltender has won more games than his 281.
Vasilevskiy led the league in wins for five straight seasons from 2017-18 to 2021-22, and he averaged 36 a season. Even last season, which was considered an off year by Vasilevskiy’s standards — he missed the first six weeks recovering from back surgery — he had 30 wins.
Vasilevskiy turned 30 in July. He was the backbone of the Lightning’s success throughout the Cup final runs. His injury last season might have been a blessing in disguise for his longevity. He quit powerlifting and turned to self-weight training with the understanding that he has to prepare differently as he gets older.
This season, Vasilevskiy has looked more like his normal self, entering Friday with a 6-3-0 record, a .911 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average. Over his last three games, Vasilevskiy has stopped 100 of the 104 shots he’s seen for a .961 save percentage.
