The NHL is on break for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. With that, it’s time to consider what players are in the hunt for the 2025-26 Vezina Trophy. The Vezina is an annual award “given to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position as voted by the general managers of all NHL clubs.” Last year, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina for the second straight year. Hellebuyck also won the award in 2020.
Hellebuyck is in the mix for the 2026 edition of the Vezina, but the Jets goalkeeper is not among the betting favorites. With fewer than 30 games to go in the 2025-26 NHL season, the three betting favorites to win the 2026 Vezina are Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals. Vasilevskiy was the Vezina winner in 2019, Sorokin and Thompson have never won the award.
Below, we look at the betting breakdown for the 2026 Vezina Trophy, as the NHL pauses for the Winter Olympics.
Ilya Sorokin is in his sixth year as an NHL goaltender. The 30-year-old Russian was a 2014 draft pick of the New York Islanders, the team he has played for since being called up to the NHL in 2019-20. However, the pandemic kept him from joining the club until January 2021.
Sorokin was nominated for the Vezina in 2022-23, when he posted a 31-22-7 record for the Isles, leading the team to a 42-31-9 record. Sorokin finished the year with a 2.34 goals against average and a save percentage of .924. He placed second in Vezina voting that year to Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins. Sorokin had three first-place votes to Ullmark’s 22.
Sorokin is 20-13-2 on the year in 2025-26, while the Islanders are 32-21-5 and in third place in the Metropolitan Division. He has a 2.44 GAA (eighth in the NHL), a .916 save percentage (fourth), and a league-leading six shutouts.
The winner of the 2019 Vezina, and a five-time finalist for the award, Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is likely to be in the running for the best goaltender in the NHL trophy a sixth time in 2026. The 31-year-old is also a two-time Stanley Cup winner, hoisting that trophy in 2020 and 2021 for the team that drafted him 19th overall in 2012, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Vasilevskiy has led the Lightning to first place in the Eastern Conference. His record stands at 27-7-3 on the year, while the Lightning, as a team, stands at 37-14-4. Vasilevskiy is tied for first in the NHL in wins, first in GAA at 2.11, and second in save percentage at .920. He has two shutouts on the year.
Since the calendar flipped to 2026, the Lightning goalkeeper is 11-0-1 with a .926 save percentage and a 1.78 GAA.
Vasilevskiy was second in Vezina voting last season.
Undrafted, Logan Thompson began his NHL career riding the pine with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021. He picked up his first NHL start in January 2022, in a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. After starting 78 games with the Knights in 2023 and 2024 (46-27-8), he was traded to the Washington Capitals before the 2024-25 season for two third-round picks. That trade has worked out well for the Caps, who are in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division with a 29-23-7 mark.
Thompson has a 19-16-4 record for Washington. He has a 2.45 GAA (ninth), .912 save percentage (ninth), and two shutouts.
The Capitals are currently outside the playoffs. Right now, the 28-year-old Thompson feels like a long shot to win the Vezina, but if he can get the team into the postseason, his chances of winning the award will increase.
Andrei Vasilevskiy has started the year incredibly well. If he can keep that momentum going following the Olympic break, he will win his second Vezina.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is the betting pick to the win the 2026 Vezina Trophy. My suggestion is to bet on him before he begins to get minus odds.
Trent is a professional sports journalist specializing in UFC, MMA, and esports coverage. His work has been featured in prestigious publications such as USA Today Sports, Vice, Bloody Elbow, Fight! Magazine, UFC 360, and Narratively. Trent's connection to MMA dates back to the early days when he and his friends pooled their resources to purchase the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 1. He also has extensive experience in esports, particularly League of Legends and Counter Strike, dating back to the game's launch.