Niklas Backstrom, Tim Thomas, and Steve Mason
Niklas Backstrom -Backstrom is on a team that focuses on the trap and their defensive style of play. While he is a great goalie, I believe any goalie in the league would have the numbers he has if they played on the Wild. He gets third place in my voting.
Tim Thomas -Probably will win it, but I do not think he really deserves it. The Boston Bruins success is because of their physical play, systematic play, and their amazing defense. I feel that Tim Thomas is receiving the majority of credit from his teams play. He sees roughly 32 shots per game, but the majority are outside shots that anyone could stop. He has to make maybe 3 good saves a night.
Steve Mason – Should win this in my opinion. Unlike the Bruins and Wild, the Blue Jackets are far from a complete team in regards to offense, defense, or systematic play. The only reason the Blue Jackets even made a dent this year was because of Steve Mason. He had a league high ten shutouts and like I said that was on a team that had far from a good defense. But, he did not play very well in the playoffs, which will probably be his undoing since the awards are not presented yet. “Supposedly” the votes are already in, but who knows how much truth there is to that.
