Even when the New Jersey Devils are not playing, and even when a player no longer plays for them, the apparent curse around the team continues to live on.
On Wednesday, the NHL released the names of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy this year, which is voted upon by the 32 NHL general managers. Those three finalists were Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jeremy Swayman, and Ilya Sorokin, who are all elite talents in their own rights.
We have deservedly talked about him a good amount over the last few years; Colorado Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood was, somehow, someway, not one of the finalists for the Vezina Trophy this year, despite ranking second in playoff save percentage at the time of this writing (.950%) and leading the league's regulars in save percentage (.921%).
The Devils' former third-round pick has been on quite a journey since getting selected in 2010, playing for the Devils, Arizona, the Devils again, Arizona again, Dallas, Nashville, and now Colorado. The Avalanche clearly believed in his talents enough to trade a young goalie in Justus Annunen and a draft pick for him, and they have been rewarded.
It would be good for the league if more players like Wedgewood were recognized for their journey in tandem with their performance, and the player clearly earned it. I mean, Wedgewood was 31-6-6 this season for the Avalanche. That is pretty close to a 3:1 ratio of wins to losses.
Some will make the argument that Wedgewood played behind Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, and Cale Makar, and that is true. But we cannot also pretend like Vasilevskiy, Swayman, and Sorokin don't have players like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Matthew Schaefer, and Mat Barzal aiding their causes, either.
Funnily enough, the Devils were on the other side of this argument when Wedgewood first broke into the league with Arizona in 2017-18, when Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, beating out the likes of MacKinnon, Anze Kopitar, Claude Giroux, Connor McDavid, and Nikita Kucherov, with the latter three all scoring 100 points.
While he doesn't play for the team anymore, the Devils would surely be happy to claim Wedgewood as a rare draft win, but at least some NHL GMs weren't on the same page as us, Avalanche fans, or many of the more vocal fans on social media. Wedgewood will probably be happy with a Stanley Cup instead, though.
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