Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Tampa Bay Lightning Kept The Right Goalie

11/16/2017 at 8:50am EST

from Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times,

Last season the Lightning had a difficult choice to make: Keep the best goalie it has ever had or put all its hopes into a kid who had never been a No. 1 NHL goalie before.

The Lightning kept the kid: Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Looks like it made the right call.

Vasilevskiy has been sensational this season. Talk all you want about the terrific play of Nikita Kucherov and captain Steven Stamkos, but the Lightning has the best record in the league because of the 23-year-old Russian goalie. And he’s the biggest reason the Lightning is already the Stanley Cup favorite.

This should come as no surprise. We’ve been hearing for a few years how Vasilevskiy is the best goalie prospect to come along since maybe Martin Brodeur. His scouting reports were off the charts. "Can’t miss,’’ they said. "Surefire.’’

Taken by the Lightning in the first round of the 2012 draft, he has lived up to every accolade.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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