Andrei Vasilevskiy’s Vezina win sends a brutal reminder to the NHL about the Lightning

Andrei Vasilevskiy did not just win another Vezina Trophy. The Tampa Bay Lightning goalie took the room, locked the door and left the rest of the ballot chasing.

The NHL announced Saturday that Vasilevskiy won the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. The Associated Press reported that the 31-year-old received 17 first-place votes from the league’s general managers, finishing ahead of New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin and Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman.

Andrei Vasilevskiy’s second Vezina trophy was not a sympathy vote

Vasilevskiy’s second Vezina Trophy came seven seasons after his first in 2018-19, but this was not a lifetime-achievement award dressed up as a 2026 honor. He led all NHL goalies with 39 wins and finished 39-15-4 in 58 starts. Tampa Bay finished second in the Atlantic Division and made its ninth consecutive playoff appearance with Vasilevskiy carrying the most important job on the roster.

His 2.31 goals-against average and .912 save percentage ranked second in the league behind Colorado Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood in those categories, according to the Associated Press. The difference was workload. Vasilevskiy started 58 games. Wedgewood started 43.


Availability is not a side note for goalies. It is the job. Vasilevskiy also put together an 18-game point streak from Dec. 20 through Feb. 25, going 17-0-1 during that stretch. Tampa Bay needed stability. He gave the Lightning more than that. He gave them the type of regular-season floor that keeps a playoff window from collapsing.

The voting reflected that gap. Vasilevskiy finished with 114 points and appeared on 28 ballots. Sorokin placed second with 51 points and eight first-place votes, while Swayman finished third with 46 points.

That is not a tight race. That is separation.

Tampa Bay Lightning still have one huge reason to believe

The Lightning have not turned recent playoff trips into deep runs. They have exited in the first round four straight times since winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.

That context matters because Vasilevskiy’s latest Vezina does two things at once. It adds another line to a Hall of Fame-level résumé, and it keeps Tampa Bay from looking like a team living only off old glory.

He is now a two-time Vezina winner, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and a six-time finalist for the award. Under the modern voting format, that puts him in rare company with names such as Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.

Vasilevskiy also became the 24th goalie in NHL history to win multiple Vezina Trophies, according to The Athletic. Among active goalies, he joins Sergei Bobrovsky and Connor Hellebuyck as multiple-time winners.

That is the bigger point. Tampa Bay can retool. It can reshape pieces around its veteran core. It can answer offseason questions about depth, pace and whether the group has one more run left.

But the Lightning do not have to wonder about the crease. As long as Vasilevskiy plays at this level, Tampa Bay still has the one thing every contender spends years trying to find. A goalie who can make a regular season look controlled, even when the bigger questions around the roster are not.