It won’t be official until the NHL hands out its awards after the Stanley Cup final but, spoiler alert, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets is a Canada sports betting lock to win another Vezina Trophy this season.
But does that portend well for his, and Winnipeg’s, chances in the playoffs? BetCanada.com set out to answer that question by finding the past 10 Vezina winners and seeing how they did in their pursuit of a Stanley Cup.
Year, Player | Team | Playoffs (W-L, GAA, Save %, Round Ousted) |
2023-24 Connor Hellebuyck | Jets | 1-4, 5.23, .864, First round |
2022-23 Linus Ullmark | Bruins | 3-3, 3.33, .896, First round |
2021-22 Igor Shesterkin | Rangers | 10-9, 2.59, .929, Conference final |
2020-21 Marc-Andre Fleiry | Golden Knights | 9-7, 2.04, .918, Conference final |
2019-20 Connor Hellebuyck | Jets | 1-3, 3.04, .904, First round |
2018-19 Andrei Vasilevskiy | Lightning | 0-4, 3.82, .856, First round |
2017-18 Pekka Rinne | Predators | 7-6, 3.07, .904, Second round |
2016-17 Sergei Bobrovsky | Blue Jackets | 1-4, 3.88, .882, First round |
2015-16 Braden Holtby | Capitals | 6-6, 1.72, .942, Second round |
2014-15 Carey Price | Canadiens | 6-6, 2.23, .920, Second round |
If you believe these past statistics have predictive significance for the 2024-25 playoffs, then Winnipeg Jets betting odds won’t look good for the playoffs.
Of the Vezina winners since the 2014-15 season – including Hellebuyck twice and eight other goaltenders – the average performance falls short of expectations.
Half the goalies on this list had a lot of rest before they lifted the Vezina Trophy at the NHL Awards show, which takes place a few days after the Stanley Cup final – because five honorees exited the playoffs in the first round. Last year, Hellebuyck picked a bad time to have perhaps the worst stretch of his career, with a 5.23 goals-against average and .864 save percentage in Winnipeg’s five-game loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the best-of-seven playoffs.
Sportsbook operators give the Jets relatively long Stanley Cup odds for 2025, though Winnipeg has had the best record in the NHL most of the season. A few Western Conference rivals made more moves at the trade deadline than Winnipeg did. Plus, the team doesn’t exactly have a decorated playoff history – this version of the Jets franchise, starting with the 2011-12 season, has won just three playoff series and has never gotten farther than the West final.
The last goalie to win the Stanley Cup and pick up Vezina hardware a few days later was Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins in 2010-11.
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How certain are we that Hellebuyck will win his second consecutive Vezina and third of his career? Almost no operators even have a Vezina prop on their board anymore. FanDuel Sportsbook in Canada still has a wager, but it’s token gesture: As of April 4, the operator lists the Jets netminder at -20000 odds for the award, against +5000 odds on “The Field” or the rest of the league combined.
We hope you placed a futures wager on Hellebuyck to win the award before now. You’d have to bet $1,000 to make a $5 profit on him now at FanDuel. But don’t worry if you missed that opportunity: The best sportsbook apps in Canada will have futures odds, lines and player props aplenty for the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.
USA Today photo by James Carey Lauder
Author
Jim Tomlin is an editor and writer for BetCanada.com specializing in sports, gambling, and the intersection of those industries. He has 30+ years of journalism experience and his work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.
