Martin Brodeur, the Vezina Trophy, and the Shots-Against Myth

The end of the season is upon hockey fans once again, and that means playoffs and awards. 

Let us talk about the Vezina Trophy and two of its candidates, Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo.

All season long, most fans are bombarded with the opinions of so called “experts” at ESPN, USA Today, TSN, etc. All of them think they have some wonderful and unique insight into who deserves what award. With the exception perhaps of TSN, none of these guys really know anything about hockey.

Just watch ESPN’s coverage of hockey if you do not believe me. Does it remind you of the conversation of the couple who are attending their first hockey game that are sitting behind you? It should.

That was just part of the overall rant on the subject of how bad ESPN’s knowledge is on hockey, but it needed to be done to set the ground work for my main argument. Every year I have to be victim to these claims by “experts” that Roberto Luongo is a better goalie than Martin Brodeur, and deserves the Vezina Trophy for the league’s top goaltender.

They claim that Martin Brodeur has the added benefit of not facing that many shots, and having what is portrayed as the entire defense squad from the All-Star game. Roberto Luongo, on the other hand, apparently is the only player on the ice for the Canucks and faces 40+ shots a game.

Those are the claims and these are the facts.

In the '06-'07 season Martin Brodeur faced 2,182 shots against him in 78 games during the regular season, giving him an average of 27.97 shots against per game. Roberto Luongo in the same season faced 2,169 shots against in 76 games giving him 28.53 average shots against per game. That is less than 1 shot per game difference between the two goaltenders.

Similar numbers from the current '07-'08 regular season can be found. With 1 game left to play before the playoffs, Brodeur has 76 games played, 2,070 shots against, and an average of 27.24 shots faced a game. Luongo had 2,020 shots against in 72 games for a 28.06 average. Once again, less than 1 shot per game difference.

Having presented the facts, you can now see that both goaltenders are given nearly equal work loads, with Martin Brodeur ending up with the better stats and more wins. The more wins is impressive because it takes into account not only how good a team is at defense, but also how much offense their team produces. In both the '06-'07 and '07-'08 seasons, the Canucks have scored more goals than the Devils, but the Devils have a better record.

There you have it, the real story. Brodeur faces more than 5 shots a game and Luongo does not face 40+. Martin Brodeur is just a better goalie and deserves the Vezina more than Luongo.

Who will actually win the Vezina this year? To me, it comes down to either Evgeni Nabokov or Martin Brodeur. The other two deserving finalists should be Henrik Lundqvist and Pascal Leclaire (two guys who were shafted from the All-Star game).