The Vezina Trophy was named in honor of Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Georges Vezina, an exceptional netminder who collapsed during a game in 1925 and died from tuberculosis a few months later. The NHL has awarded the Vezina every season since 1927 to the goaltender the league judges is the best at his position.
Five Buffalo goalies have won the trophy since the franchise began in 1970. Let’s examine them and see why they deserved this award.
Don Edwards and Bob Sauve, 1979-80
Sabres goaltenders Don Edwards and Bob Sauve co-received the Vezina for the 1979-80 season. Edwards became the team’s starting goalie in 1978 and appeared in 72 games, with a .906 SV% and 2.64 GAA. By the 1979-80 season, the Sabres had cut down Edwards’ starts, because they didn’t want to overuse him. Despite this, Edwards finished 1980 with a respectable 2.57 GAA. He also played in two All-Star games in 1978 and 1980
Bob Sauve, Buffalo’s backup goaltender, led the NHL in GAA during the 1979-80 season with 2.36 and enjoyed a .901 SV%, higher than Edwards’ .893. What makes this more impressive is that Sauve only started in 32 matchups that year, compared to Edwards’ 49. Regardless of who had the better stats, the NHL awarded the goaltending duo the Vezina Trophy in 1980 for their efforts in front of the Sabres’ net.
Tom Barrasso, 1983-84
Buffalo netminder Tom Barrasso, a young talent the Blue and Gold selected in the 1983 Entry Draft, skipped college and started behind the Sabres’ net for the 1983-84 season. What’s even more amazing is Barrasso became the Vezina Trophy winner his rookie year.
It’s easy to see why. Barrasso enjoyed a 26-12-3 record, an .893 SV% and a 2.85 GAA in just 42 games. He also competed in the NHL All-Rookie Team and the NHL All-Star Team. As if that wasn’t enough, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy and the Vezina Trophy during the same season.
Dominik Hasek, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01
Probably the best goalie Buffalo ever had, Dominik Hasek won the Vezina Trophy as a Sabre six times, twice consecutively from 1994-95, three times in a row from 1997-99 and a final time in 2000-01. Hasek is tied an NHL second place with Bill Durnan for the most Vezinas, exceeded only by Jacques Plante, who had seven.
As well as starting in net during the 1999 Stanley Cup Final, the last time the Sabres competed for the Cup, the Dominator enjoyed a .930 SV% or higher for five seasons. His GAA stats were also below .250 for all but two years in Buffalo. Hasek appeared in six NHL All-Star teams as a Sabre and received the Hart Memorial Trophy, the William M. Jennings Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award twice.
Hasek continued to post impressive stats after the 1999 season, but eventually decided to sign with Red Wings, because he thought Detroit would give him a better chance to win a Stanley Cup. He did that with the Wings in 2002.
While he didn’t get to hoist a Cup as a Sabre (thanks Gary Bettman), Hasek is definitely at the top of any all-time greatest Buffalo goalies list.
Ryan Miller, 2009-10
The most recent Sabres goaltender to win the Vezina Trophy, Ryan Miller received the award at the end of the 2009-10 season. The Sabres were fortunate to land Miller, a fantastic netminder who took Dominik Hasek’s place a few years after the Dominator left Buffalo for Detroit.
Miller didn’t become the Blue and Gold’s starting goalie until the 2005-06 season, but when he did, he made an immediate impact, with a 30-14-3 record, an excellent .914 SV% and 2.60 GAA in 48 contests. His SV% numbers never dropped below .900 for the nine seasons he started in front of Buffalo’s net and even stayed in that range for almost the rest of his career. Only in 2020-21, his last NHL year with the Anaheim Ducks, did he record a SV% under .900.
It's interesting to speculate what might have happened if the Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2006 Conference Finals and played against the Edmonton Oilers. Miller was in top form and could have become the difference maker. That didn’t happen and Carolina went on to win the Cup. The following year. Buffalo lost to Ottawa in the same conference series and the Sens fell to the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in the finals.
It would be the closest Miller ever got to the Cup. However, he enjoyed a long and successful hockey career and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022.