Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning were named “best of” in two categories of voting conducted by the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA). Vasilevskiy was voted as “Best Overall Goalie,” while Kucherov was voted as “Best Playmaker”.
663 NHL players were asked 12 hockey-related questions for the 2024-25 NHLPA Player Poll. They selected their top choices for various topics around the game, from rating their peers on skill and fashion sense to best ice around the league and more. The results were released on April 15.
Vasilevskiy – Best Overall Goalie
The Russian netminder picked up 31% of the vote, followed by Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers at 23%, Vezina Trophy favorite Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets at 15%, reigning Stanley Cup winner Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers at 8%, and Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros at 4%.
Vasilevskiy, a one-time Vezina winner, has a 37-20-5 record with a .921 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.20 goals-against average (GAA) this season. He has backstopped the Lightning to two Stanley Cup championships and won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2021. His success being carried over to the postseason is underscored by the Lightning’s 2021 Stanley Cup championship run that saw the star netminder take home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after he put together a dominant showing in which he won 16 of 23 games while posting a .937 SV%, 1.90 GAA, and five shutouts.
Originally chosen 19th overall by Tampa Bay in the 2012 NHL Draft, the 30-year-old Russian-born goaltender has since played part of 11 seasons, counting 539 total appearances in which he has found the win column 330 times, the most ever by a Lightning goaltender. He has a career .917 SV%, 2.52 GAA, and 40 shutouts.
Kucherov – “Best Playmaker”
Kucherov picked up 48% of the vote compared to runner-up Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, who received 20%. Not too surprising considering Kucherov’s ability to see the game is like no other. The 2023-24 Art Ross Trophy winner takes the best playmaker category for another year, raking in 304 votes with just under half of all players selecting him.
The 31-year-old was also runner-up in the “Smartest Overall Player” category and received the third most votes in the “Best Overall Forward”.
With the three-point effort against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday (April 13), Kucherov took sole possession of the NHL lead in points with 119 (36 goals, 83 assists). Nathan MacKinnon’s regular season is over with 116 points, and the next two closest players are more than 10 points back, which is probably too large a deficit to overcome this late in the season. Once official, this will be Kucherov’s third time winning the Art Ross Trophy as the league leader in points, which includes his career-best 144-point performance in 2023-24. He has added 259 shots on net, 45 penalty minutes, and a plus-21 rating over 76 appearances this season.
Kucherov was recently named the NHL’s First Star of the Week from March 24-30. He paced the NHL with three goals and 11 points in three games. He notched a goal and two assists, his 13th three-point performance of the campaign, in a 6-1 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 25. He then registered consecutive four-point games for the sixth time in his career, posting a goal and three assists in both an 8-0 triumph versus the Utah Hockey Club on March 27 and a 5-3 win over the New York Islanders on March 29.
The Lightning will close out the season on April 17 against the New York Rangers and will face the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs.
