Fleury, Grubauer, Vasilevskiy Named Finalists for 2021 Vezina Trophy

The Vegas Golden Knights' Marc-Andre Fleury, Colorado Avalanche's Philipp Grubauer and Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy are the three finalists for the 2020-21 Vezina Trophy.

The trio are the top three vote-getters among the league's general managers for the honor. Vasilevskiy was the 2018-19 Vezina winner, while Fleury and Grubauer are looking to earn the award for the first time.

Vasilevskiy has the inside track on the competition.

The 26-year-old Russian led the NHL in wins for the fourth straight season as the team notched 31 victories in his 42 starts. While he finished eighth in goals-against average (2.21), he was sixth in save percentage (.925) after having faced the second-most shots in the league.

Hall of Famer Phil Esposito, who also works as a commentator for Tampa Bay, made the case to The Athletic's Joe Smith that Vasilevskiy was not only a deserving Vezina candidate but also belonged in the Hart Trophy discussion.

"It’s judged the most valuable player to his team," Esposito said. "Is Vasilevskiy more valuable to our team than (Connor) McDavid is to Edmonton? I think so. The truth is Edmonton would still be around a playoff spot without McDavid. I don’t even know if (Tampa) would be without Vasilevskiy."

Fleury and Grubauer might be fighting for runner-up.

Fleury set career highs in save percentage (.928) and goals-against average (1.98), a far cry from when his agent Photoshopped a sword with the name of Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer going through the goalie's back in a since-deleted tweet on Saturday.

Grubauer, meanwhile, shared the league lead in shutouts (seven) and finished second behind Alex Nedeljkovic in goals-against average (1.95).

The 29-year-old probably lost valuable ground in the Vezina race with his performance toward the end of the regular season, though. In 10 starts across April and May, the German had a .908 save percentage and surrendered 24 goals.