The NHL Awards are tonight, and up for the Vezina Trophy — awarded by the General Managers to the league’s best goaltender — is Dallas Stars netminder Ben Bishop:
Bishop led the league with a .934 save percentage and was second with a 1.98 goals-against average… Bishop set a new career high with seven shutouts and nearly carried the Stars to the Western Conference final by making 52 saves in a double-overtime loss in Game 7 to St. Louis. It was the most saves by a Dallas goaltender in more than a decade.
This is Bishop’s third year as a finalist, and he’s up against some fierce competition in Robin Lehner and former teammate Andrei Vasilevskiy. Winning the trophy would not only be a first for Bishop, but for the Stars as well:
Should Bishop not win the Vezina, he would join Roberto Luongo and Curtis Joseph as the only goaltenders in NHL history with three top-three finishes and zero wins. The Stars have never won a Vezina Trophy, with Marty Turco’s second-place finish in 2002-03 the closest Dallas has come.
You can read more from Mattew DeFranks here.
Stars Stories
Looks like the Texas Stars will have even more competition between the pipes this season:
After a phenomenal rookie season with the Idaho Steelheads, Goaltender Tomas Sholl has signed an AHL deal with the #txstars
Read: https://t.co/lYjGnigfFd pic.twitter.com/sqjSQpCMi0
— Texas Stars (@TexasStars) June 18, 2019
The possibility of trading captain Jamie Benn has been a popular topic this offseason, but is it even a good idea to begin with?
Should the Dallas Stars consider trading Jamie Benn? | @JoshL1220 #GoStars https://t.co/GmDPMXiry4
— SportsDayDFW (@SportsDayDFW) June 17, 2019
The NHL Entry Draft is just a couple days away! Who do you think the Stars will pick?
The Stars have the 18th overall pick in the 2019 #NHLDraft on Friday. @StarsInsideEdge takes a look at six different prospects that could be available when we’re on the clock. https://t.co/eVNMmKEKRK
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) June 18, 2019
Around the League
The Philadelphia Flyers made some waves yesterday in the headlines. First, they traded for Justin Braun from the San Jose Sharks, for reasons I’m not quite sure about:
BREAKING: The #Flyers have acquired defenseman Justin Braun from San Jose in exchange for a second-round pick in this year’s draft (41st overall) and third-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) June 18, 2019
Much later, they signed Kevin Hayes — whose rights they recently acquired — to a lucrative contract, again for reasons I’m not quite sure about:
Kevin Hayes
7 years x $7.143M
Philadelphia #FlyersMost comparable contracts:
1. Ryan O’Reilly
2. Travis Zajac
3. Brock Nelsonhttps://t.co/49avuokepG pic.twitter.com/2Jn3d943gg— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 19, 2019
Here’s a great piece on draft prospect Nicholas Robertson, younger brother of Stars’ prospect Jason Robertson:
The #NHLDraft has a strong contingent of American talent from the #NTDP. But @PetesOHLhockey forward Nicholas Robertson is proof that there’s significant talent away from the program. @StevenEllisTHN with the story.https://t.co/aIXfoWysZD
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) June 19, 2019
Big news in San Jose — Joe Thornton expects to return next season:
I look forward to the next 10 years of Joe Thornton’s career. https://t.co/0vhLEyl79e
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) June 19, 2019
Finally, let’s wrap up with some more NHL Awards talk. Here’s a primer on each award and its finalists.
The 2018-19 NHL Awards will be handed out soon. @JonathanWillis with a look at the finalists, the projected winners and which players got snubbed. https://t.co/TO6xPAzIDU
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) June 18, 2019