The NY Rangers have seen some legendary goaltenders in their long history, especially across the previous four-plus decades with a trio of Vezina Trophy winners. But if you’re new to the Blueshirts and are interested in learning their history, both recent and from way back when, you may be curious to know who those Vezina Trophy winners were since the 1981-82 season - note that these aren’t the only Rangers players to have snagged the award since the criteria for winning the Vezina has changed throughout the years.
In short, the Rangers saw their current goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, take the award just a few short seasons ago, while one of the game’s best goaltenders ever won it in 2012. For the third player on this list, you’ll have to go all the way to the 1980s to find out who they were and just how good of a season they enjoyed.
Igor Shesterkin, 2022
It seems like Igor Shesterkin is always in the conversation for the Vezina Trophy, and if he played an elite game throughout the 2023-24 season, there’s a good chance he’d have been awarded the trophy again last year. But that wasn’t the case in 2021-22 when Shesterkin took first place for the Vezina and third for the Hart, finishing the year with a legendary 2.07 GAA, a 0.731 quality starts percentage, a 0.935 save percentage, and six shutouts.
Shesterkin played in 53 games this year and started 52 of them, snagging 36 wins and only four ‘really bad starts.’ A fun fact regarding Shesterkin is that, as of the 2023-24 season, he’s gone three straight campaigns with at least 36 wins, with his career-high of 37 occurring in 2022-23.
While he didn’t enjoy the same output in 2023-24, with 10 ‘really bad starts’ and a quality starts percentage of 0.582, Shesterkin got hot as the season progressed and took fourth for the award. He also finished the year with four shutouts, a 2.58 GAA, and a 0.912 save percentage.
Henrik Lundqvist, 2012
One of the best, if not the best, goaltenders in New York Rangers history, Henrik Lundqvist’s name is the first some fans think of if someone mentions goaltenders, or even the Rangers. From his rookie season in 2005-06, Lundqvist always seemed to be in the running for the Vezina, and he snagged it in 2012.
Much like Igor Shesterkin would a decade later, Lundqvist not only finished first for the Vezina, but he also took home a third-place finish for the Hart Trophy. And he was virtually unstoppable that year, with 39 wins in 62 starts, a 0.930 save percentage, a 1.97 GAA, eight shutouts, a 0.645 quality starts percentage, and just three ‘really bad starts.’
While Lundqvist only won the award once, he finished in the top five for the Vezina seven times and scored 10 top-10 finishes. One of the best goaltenders in league history; it should surprise nobody, Rangers fan or not, that Henrik Lundqvist is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
John Vanbiesbrouck, 1986
John Vanbiesbrouck is yet another memorable goaltender in Rangers history, and he took the Vezina in just his second full season in 1986. That year, he notched three shutouts, an 0.887 save percentage, a 3.33 GAA, and 31 wins in 61 starts.
As with Shesterkin and Lundqvist, Vanbiesbrouck also received serious consideration for the Hart Trophy, taking fifth place. Also, like New York’s future goaltenders, Vanbiesbrouck was at times a perennial contender for the Vezina, finishing with top-10 consideration for the award on four more occasions while in New York.
When he moved on to the Florida Panthers in the 1993-94 season, Vanbiesbrouck took third for the Hart and second for the Vezina, and he would log three more top-10 finishes for the award throughout his time in the Sunrise/Miami area. He also made stops in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Long Island, but from the 1997-98 season and onward, he never received Vezina consideration.
(Statistics powered by Hockey-Reference)