One of the brightest points of the St. Louis Blues 2025-26 season was the arrival and redemption of goaltender Joel Hofer. It was so bright that he was awarded with a relatively high grade for his performance.
He started off the season just about as bad as you possibly can, and it lasted for quite a while. But, he kept at it and proved why the torch should be passed from Jordan Binnington.
Earlier today, the NHL announced their three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is awarded to the season's best goaltender. They got it 100% correct, as each were incredible in their own right.
Ilya Sorokin, Jeremy Swayman and Andrei Vasilevskiy are the finalists for the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy 👏 pic.twitter.com/F4T27t96R3
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 29, 2026
Even with the much anticpated snub, there is a case to be made that Hofer should get a little bit of love in the voting. Here's why.
Vezina love for Hofer
After seeing who was in the running for the award, there are reasons why Hofer should be closer to getting votes, than to not. Even with one of the worst defensive units in the NHL in front of him, and then a vast stretch of incapable offensive support, Hofer finished the season with a winning record and a career-high six shutouts.
Hofer finished with a record of 24-13-5, with a save percentage of .909 and a goals against average of 2.61. Those are all career-best's, and there were many times this season that head coach Jim Montgomery had to call upon Hofer rather than Binninton in big-time games.
Those six shutouts only trailed Vezina Finalist Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders, who finished the year with seven shutouts. Sorokin also finished the season with a 29-24-2 record, a save percentage of .906 and goals against average of 2.68. And that is with a defensive unit that heralds Matthew Schaefer and Ryan Pulock.
Hofer stands a fairly good chance of finishing inside the top-7 goaltenders for this particular vote, with a ceiling of potentially finishing in the top-5. Especially if he is that close to Sorokin in the statistical department, and he is a finalist.
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