Blast from the past. Who honestly thought Vasy would become one of the best goalies ever?
July 20, 2025
Blast from the past. Who honestly thought Vasy would become one of the best goalies ever?
10 comments
The man the myth the legend
⚡
Imagine being in the AHL trying to prove yourself to get called up to the NHL and your opponents goalie is the Big Cat, just shutting down everything your team throws at him.
First time I ever watched Vasy live was game 2 of the Stanley Cup back in 2015, Bishop got hurt with like 10 minutes left in the game, the big cat goes out there and held it down like a brick wall and protected our slim lead. Already huge fans of bish but after watching vasy couldnt help but think this guy was going to be our future.
I remember watching him in the 2012 World Juniors for Russia and being impressed. When Tampa drafted him I was pretty pumped but I obviously didn’t think he would turn out to be one of the greats lol
Russians have produced some big timers, like, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Ilya Sorokin, and Semyon Varlamov.
I thought he would, and I think he’s inarguably on the top 10 all time list. He’s pretty much the modern day Patrick Roy. He’s a better goalie than Brodeur, from a talent standpoint.
He’s a tier above Hellebuyck, Igor, Lundqvist, and Price. But he’s Russian and plays for a southern team so he’ll never get the recognition he deserves.
I know it’s impossible to prove now but right around the 2016 offseason, I was telling my friends until I was blue in the face that we should ‘sell high’ on Bishop, and go all in on Vasy who, at the time in my mind, was younger, cheaper, and less chance of injury. My argument was that even if he gave us slightly less chance of winning in the immediate future, it gave us much better long term roster flexibility.
However, I never could have imagined he would become the all-pro, borderline HoFer, and one of the best of his era. I never quite saw *that* coming.
Always liked him more than Bishop
I am back to provide you with my most shameful moment in this sub: short answer? Not fkn me, holy airball
10 comments
The man the myth the legend
⚡
Imagine being in the AHL trying to prove yourself to get called up to the NHL and your opponents goalie is the Big Cat, just shutting down everything your team throws at him.
First time I ever watched Vasy live was game 2 of the Stanley Cup back in 2015, Bishop got hurt with like 10 minutes left in the game, the big cat goes out there and held it down like a brick wall and protected our slim lead. Already huge fans of bish but after watching vasy couldnt help but think this guy was going to be our future.
I remember watching him in the 2012 World Juniors for Russia and being impressed. When Tampa drafted him I was pretty pumped but I obviously didn’t think he would turn out to be one of the greats lol
Russians have produced some big timers, like, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Ilya Sorokin, and Semyon Varlamov.
I thought he would, and I think he’s inarguably on the top 10 all time list. He’s pretty much the modern day Patrick Roy. He’s a better goalie than Brodeur, from a talent standpoint.
He’s a tier above Hellebuyck, Igor, Lundqvist, and Price. But he’s Russian and plays for a southern team so he’ll never get the recognition he deserves.
I know it’s impossible to prove now but right around the 2016 offseason, I was telling my friends until I was blue in the face that we should ‘sell high’ on Bishop, and go all in on Vasy who, at the time in my mind, was younger, cheaper, and less chance of injury. My argument was that even if he gave us slightly less chance of winning in the immediate future, it gave us much better long term roster flexibility.
However, I never could have imagined he would become the all-pro, borderline HoFer, and one of the best of his era. I never quite saw *that* coming.
Always liked him more than Bishop
I am back to provide you with my most shameful moment in this sub: short answer? Not fkn me, holy airball
https://preview.redd.it/pa8jc0bdt1ef1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=80df12061e8573d358593e7b0eb1c324bb0888bb
I was at one of his early starts.
At the time, I was mad Bishop wasn’t in net.