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Toronto Maple Leafs: Could Jack Campbell Win the Vezina Trophy?

By Stephen Nixon

Jan 16, 2021; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell (36) makes a save on a shot from Ottawa Senators right wing Evgenii Dadonov (63) in the third period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2021; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell (36) makes a save on a shot from Ottawa Senators right wing Evgenii Dadonov (63) in the third period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jack Campbell is having the greatest start to a season in Toronto Maple Leafs history, but how many games does he have to play to be considered a Vezina Trophy candidate?

The Toronto Maple Leafs only have 17 regular season games left, which is hard to believe. As a result, the most games Campbell could start this season is 26, which would represent 46 percent of the starts.

With a few back-to-back’s and the possibility of a Freddie Andersen return, the realistic amount of games that Campbell will start for the remainder of the season is probably 10-12, so let’s assume he finishes the year with 21 starts.

Is that enough games to consider Campbell a Vezina Trophy candidate?

Ever since the NHL changed their Vezina Trophy award to a vote based on the best goaltender in the NHL instead of strictly statistics, the goalie with the least amount of wins was Sergei Bobrovsky during the 2012-13 season, which was a lockout shortened campaign.

Bobrovsky finished the year with a 21-11-6 record, .932 SV% and 2.00 GAA (via: hockeydb.com). He clearly deserved the win that season based off those stats, but within the voting process, there were some comparable goalies to the season that Campbell is currently having.

Could Campbell Contend for the Vezina Trophy?

As of this writing, Campbell has a 9-0 record, with a .944 SV % and 1.53 GAA (via: hockeydb.com) He’s played in far fewer games than some of the current Vezina Trophy candidates, but those stats are insane.

It’s hard to believe that Campbell will continue to play at this caliber for the rest of the year and have a perfect season, but what if he does? I mean, in a shortened season playing against the same opponents every night, it’s much easier to accomplish than any other year.

His current season draws comparisons to that 2012-13 year that we were previously speaking about.

During that lockout year, two goalies played less than half of the games and still received top-seven Vezina Trophy votes.

As the back-up goalie on the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks roster, Ray Emery put together an unforgettable season. He finished with a 17-1 record, .922 SV% and 1.94 GAA, and eventually finished seventh in voting.

His save percentage and goals against average were worse than Campbell’s current stats, so it’s possible if Soupy keeps up this strong play, he could finish even higher in voting than Emery did.

In addition to Emery, Craig Anderson had a 12-9-2 record, .941 SV% and 1.69 GAA with the Ottawa Senators in 2012-13, and finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting. Anderson’s stats compare even better to Campbell’s, but his roughly .500 record was the reason why he didn’t receive more first place votes.

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Campbell is going to have to stay healthy and start the majority of the remaining games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but there’s a world where he could finish top-five in Vezina Trophy voting. It’ll take a masterful performance over the next month, but based on what we’ve seen in his limited action this year, there’s no reason to believe it can’t happen.

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