Devan Dubnyk named Vezina Trophy finalist; Jets coach Paul Maurice raves about Mike Yeo

Devan Dubnyk's tremendous second-half run with the Wild has earned him a Vezina Trophy nomination.

The Wild goaltender is a finalist for the award given the goaltender adjudged as the best at his position. The 30 NHL general managers vote for the award, and the other finalists are Montreal's Carey Price and Nashville's Pekka Rinne.

The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 24, during the 2015 NHL Awards from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

"We talked about this before, I think he should be a Hart Trophy candidate too for what he's done for our group," coach Mike Yeo said. "Whenever there's an individual award, you're always incredibly happy for those players and I think it's very deserving in his case what he's done for us and the attitude that he's had.

"It's great that he's had personal success, but he really wants to bring team success to our group too. But I also think it's a real compliment to the rest of the team. This is a team game. You don't have success individually unless the rest of the group is doing their job."

We'll get Dubnyk's reaction after tonight's Game 5, but he talked a few days ago about how what a ride this has been and who would have thought a few months ago a picture of himself would be hanging on the side of Xcel Energy Center before the playoffs. He is also the Wild's Masterton Trophy nominee.

Eight points outside of a playoff spot when he made his team debut on Jan. 15, Dubnyk backstopped the Wild to their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Dubnyk, who set a franchise record with 38 straight starts following his acquisition from Arizona, went 27-9-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and five shutouts after joining the Wild. He was the winning goaltender in 11 of the Wild's 12 consecutive road wins (Feb. 18 - Apr. 9) that tied the 2005-06 Red Wings for the longest such run in League history. Overall, the first-time Vezina finalist finished the season second in the NHL with a 2.07 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. He also ranked in the top 10 in shutouts (t-4th,
6) and wins (t-6th; 36).

Niklas Backstrom was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2009.

Incidentally, coach Paul Maurice raved about Yeo today in his end of the year address in Winnipeg.

The question came up in Winnipeg about what's ahead for the Jets and Maurice wound his way into thoughts of "arrrogance that comes from success" and how the Jets need to re-establish expectations next year after making the playoffs and how teams look at things differently once they've been down that road and how sometimes it becomes a disconnect when success doesn't become automatic.