{"time":1787197544261,"blocks":[{"id":"xCl36U0EKr","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features."}},{"id":"9vfOSb00kq","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Subscribe now to view the full THN Archives here"}},{"id":"hn1e9Rqu89","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Also, go to thn.com/free to subscribe."}},{"id":"qAkP8JJsNe","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"A Legend In The Making? —May 14, 2018 —VOL. 71, Issue 14"}},{"id":"mt0z5r07","type":"video","data":{"url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed/mp4","caption":"","autoplay":false,"controls":true,"muted":false,"stretched":true,"width":0,"height":0,"image":{"url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed/thumbnail"},"cdn":{"videoId":"cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed","libraryId":"372172","collectionId":"30032062-eefd-4041-a355-12ad05bc987b","cdnBaseUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net","mp4Url":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed/mp4","thumbnailUrl":"https://us-central1-deweb-519a7.cloudfunctions.net/mediaService-api/videos/cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed/thumbnail","previewAnimationUrl":"https://vz-052fc010-b27.b-cdn.net/cc7b1c7c-8008-4090-848d-77decb05e1ed/preview.webp"}}},{"id":"b0UNZYnI-y","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"ANDREI VASILEVSKIY LOOKS LIKE the next day he shaves will be his first. He’s as baby-faced as any goalie in the NHL, but that perception vanishes upon feeling the crushing grip of his handshake. His boyish look is just another mask. Underneath is a powerful, mature, intense man, devoted to his family, relentless in his pursuit of excellence tending goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning."}},{"id":"MRcDyFRbCh","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Walking the hallways of Tampa’s Grand Hyatt hotel during the 2018 All-Star Game weekend, Vasilevskiy, 23, flashes his trademark perfectionism. He stops talking every few minutes to ask, “Do you understand?” He’s hard on himself, believing his English needs a lot more work than it does. He treats language like another skill he needs to drill over and over until he masters it."}},{"id":"QOSR_ZV4Mo","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"He does the same every day at practice when it comes to stopping pucks. “He’ll ask you every time if something is open when you shoot, if there’s something in his game that needs to be better,” said Lightning right winger and fellow Russian Nikita Kucherov. “He’s that kind of guy, that passionate. He loves hockey, and that’s what makes him better.”"}},{"id":"PTwLwoAS-o","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"No one had to coach discipline and obsessive devotion into Vasilevskiy. He possessed them before Lightning GM Steve Yzerman and goaltending coach Frantz Jean met him. Of course, they were struck by his physicality before they got to know his brain. He was hyped as Russia’s best goaltending prodigy since Vladislav Tretiak for a reason. Vasilevskiy’s 6-foot-3 frame gave him an impressive, projectable wingspan. His raw talent floored Jean when he first watched him. “He was an unbelievable skater, as was his ability to move in the crease even after making the initial save,” Jean said. “Getting in the shooting lane for the initial shot is one thing, but being able to recuperate after that save and follow rebounds no matter where they go…his ability to do that was really, really high level in the precision of his execution…I said, ‘Wow, this guy is something else.’ It was significantly better than any other goalie I’d seen before.”"}},{"id":"-N7b3ufcHi","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"High praise considering Jean worked with Corey Crawford and dozens of other goalies with the Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL before coming to the NHL. The Lightning thus tripped over themselves to draft Vasilevskiy 19th overall in 2012. It’s been a steady ascension to the pros ever since. He was the KHL’s rookie of the year in 2013-14. The following season, he was holding down Tampa’s crease as an injury replacement for Ben Bishop in the 2015 Stanley Cup final. The Lightning believe Vasilevskiy’s willingness to work on every detail year-round, from nutrition to stretching to sleep to hydration, has created a perfect marriage of skill and ambition."}},{"id":"zzuE15Dmy5","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"And we’re seeing it on the ice now more than ever. Vasilevskiy teased great potential as the Lightning’s No. 2 goalie in 2014-15 and 2015-16, and Yzerman handed him a three-year, $10.5-million extension in the summer of 2016. The message was clear: a $3.5-million cap hit wasn’t backup money. Bishop, a pending UFA, knew his time was up. Yzerman dealt Bishop at the 2017 trade deadline and handed Vasilevskiy the No. 1 job."}},{"id":"qe1NuNwkQk","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Meanwhile, in his first full season as a starter, Vasilevskiy has as strong a claim to the Vezina Trophy as anyone. Through early March, he led the NHL in wins and shutouts and was sixth in save percentage. Per corsica. hockey, among the 43 netminders with at least 1,000 minutes played, he ranked third in 5-on-5 SP, ninth in low-danger SP and fifth in high-danger SP. He had arrived. Not that he wanted to think that way for a second. “I definitely feel like I’m the same guy,” he said. “Nothing changes. The most important thing is how you can handle your success. When people are talking about, ‘This guy is playing well, blah blah blah,’ many thoughts start to appear in your head, like, ‘Oh, you’re probably pretty good.’ So that’s the most important part, to handle that… not pressure, but those types of thoughts. You have to stay humble. You have to work harder to get even more success.”"}},{"id":"Hdtvoa_Izr","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"So how does a 23-year-old dole out wily adages like that and think like a mature man? The answers lie in the life he comes from and the one he’s built for himself."}},{"id":"sRn9ppPJY-","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Vasilevskiy was raised by a professional goalie in Tyumen, the oldest settlement in Siberia, about 1,600 miles east of Moscow. His father, Andrei Sr., toiled in the Soviet Leagues for years and currently coaches goaltenders in the MHL, the junior arm of the KHL. He has two sons, Andrei Jr. and Alexei, and they grew up in a prosperous household being groomed as hockey players. Alexei now plays in the KHL as a defenseman with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg."}},{"id":"bozi5CsF49","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Both boys learned the value of being a pro athlete and the opportunities it grants to one’s children. And everything Andrei Jr. has done in his life suggests he’s looking to build a similar home to what his father gave him."}},{"id":"EffR1GQLop","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"IN PRACTICE, HE’LL ASK YOU EVERY TIME IF SOMETHING IS OPEN WHEN YOU SHOOT, IF THERE’S SOMETHING IN HIS GAME THAT NEEDS TO BE BETTER"}},{"id":"jl0AqLjAUm","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Vasilevskiy has settled down early in life. By chance, he sat beside a young woman named Ksenia on a flight to Moscow when he was just 15. They talked the whole trip and fell for each other quickly. Now they’re married with a 2-year-old son, Lukas, who was born while Vasilevskiy was playing for the Bolts one night in January 2016. Vasilevskiy was informed he was a new daddy in the dressing room afterward. Lukas is already drawn to hockey and loves playing around with mini sticks and nets at home. “So even when I’m tired, he takes the stick, like, ‘Let’s go play,’” Vasilevskiy said with a laugh. “He’s a forward, thank god. I don’t want him playing goal. I want him to be a forward, because goalie is tough. I don’t know if he’ll be a hockey player. The most important thing is that he’ll be healthy and happy. That’s the only thing I worry about.”"}},{"id":"-1F39917Gh","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Vasilevskiy’s face warms when he shares that anecdote. He’s head over heels for his wife and son. Why that’s relevant to his career: he’s immersed in his home life whenever he’s not on the ice, so despite being younger than many graduate students, he isn’t an “explorer” on road trips. He doesn’t hit the bars. He doesn’t party. He stays home and focuses on parenthood the way an aging veteran would. It’s helped him keep a clear mind, and that’s one area of his game that wasn’t always a sure thing."}},{"id":"rcModJovST","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"Before this season, Vasilevskiy had 90 NHL games to his name, and he had a .925 SP or better in 39 of them. He also had an SP below .900 in 34 of them. Last season, his SP roller-coastered month by month from October to April: .929, .944, .892, .896, .919 .922, .936. He had trouble finding his consistency. Jean and the Lightning have worked with him on locating the puck in traffic, something he didn’t have to deal with as much playing in Russia, but his problems weren’t really technique-related. Jean felt they were the result of being almost too intense, too emotional, dwelling on a bad goal."}},{"id":"Ip2xBlVq0t","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"This year, however, Vasilevskiy has found a degree of inner peace. Near the end of a dominant and consistent first half, he endured a mini-slump in which he surrendered four or more goals in five consecutive games. Discussing it days afterward, though, he brushed it off. “Games like that are going to happen,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about it. We have to control what we can control, our effort, our attitude and our work ethic.”"}},{"id":"yIO2VBHsXG","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"He halted the five-game slide emphatically with a shutout. And that’s the difference this year: a handful of bad games don’t become a lot of bad games. Becoming a father is one reason why. Another crucial influence is talking to his father. He and Andrei Sr. gab on the phone all the time, not about technique but about the mental side of the game."}},{"id":"HbQv08QLYj","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"He also has more fun than people may think. He’s become a big classic rock fan. He’ll never get to see The Doors or Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin on stage, but he dreams of checking out Guns N’ Roses one day. He a funny guy, too. His teammates rave about his jokes, which Jean describes as “very visual, like a teenager’s sense of humor.”"}},{"id":"8KagMbKkfI","type":"paragraph","data":{"text":"He shows a hint of that in the hotel hallway when he spots Kucherov walking by. Vasilevskiy makes a clicking sound with his tongue and says something like, “Nikki Nikki Nikki!” in a singsong voice. Whatever the heck that is, it’s their own private joke. And once Kucherov disappears from sight, Vasilevskiy snaps back to attention. The moment is a microcosm of what this young man has become: capable of having fun, very caring toward those close to him, but ready to achieve razor-sharp focus when necessary. That’s a tool he’ll likely need deep into June, with Tampa Bay storming the playoffs as a Stanley Cup favorite."}}],"version":"2.31.6"}

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