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Therrien ‘surprised and disappointed’ Price wasn’t Vezina finalist

On Friday, the NHL announced that Ben Bishop, Tuukka Rask and Semyon Varlamov were the three finalists for this year’s Vezina Trophy.

Shortly after, Habs head coach Michel Therrien set about discussing who didn’t make the cut -- his goalie, Carey Price.

“I’m surprised and disappointed for Carey,” Therrien said, per TSN. “In my opinion he should’ve been there.”

Price finished the year with a 34-20-5 record, .927 save percentage, 2.32 GAA and six shutouts, second-most in the NHL. Great numbers, which makes it seem like Price’s exclusion was more about what the finalists did rather than what he didn’t. Bishop and Varlamov could’ve warranted MVP consideration given how crucial they were to their teams’ success this season, and Rask was the only goalie in the league to finish top-five in all the major statistical categories.

That said, one does have to wonder when Price will break through. He’s never finished higher than fifth in Vezina voting -- that happened in 2010, when he led the NHL with 38 wins -- and he’s now lumped in with an up-and-coming class of relatively young goalies that are all first-time nominees: Rask and Bishop are the oldest of the group, having both turned 27 this season, while Price is 26 and Varlamov is 25.

Don’t forget that last year’s Vezina winner, Sergei Bobrovsky, is only 25 as well.