The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually "to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position" as voted by the general managers of all 30 NHL teams, and as such should not have a North American finisher in the top three in voting for the first time in its history when the honor is handed out in Las Vegas on June 18.

If the trophy is truly to be handed out to the best -- or you can say most valuable -- goalie in the League, then the 2009 Vezina Trophy will either sit on a mantle in Finland or Kazakhstan this summer.

The reason?

Blame it on a freakish left distal biceps tendon injury to Martin Brodeur, a few cranky groins hampering Roberto Luongo and Carey Price, a high-ankle sprain felling Ryan Miller, in-season knee surgery to Rick DiPietro, an undisclosed lower-body injury to Marc-Andre Fleury and the wild inconsistency of Marty Turco that have left many of the established favorites out of the running this season.

But the unfortunate circumstances that have sabotaged the candidacy of the NHL's top Canadian and U.S.-born goalies doesn't diminish the fact that goaltenders Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom and Evgeni Nabokov have been the three most dominant players at their position in 2008-09, making them the three most-deserving finalists.

Calgary's Kiprusoff placed in the top three in voting from 2004 through 2007, winning the Vezina by a large margin against runner-up Brodeur in 2006. Through April 7, the native of Turku, Finland has appeared in all but five games for the Flames and could finish with a career-high of 77 appearances, which would be two off the NHL record (79 by Grant Fuhr of St. Louis, 1995-96). More importantly, Kiprusoff fell just short of Brodeur's single-season record of 48 victories, winning 45 with two games remaining in the season. At the very least, Kiprusoff will post one of the eight-best winning seasons by a goaltender in League history.

True, Kiprusoff has struggled since March 1, posting a 8-8-0 record in 18 appearances and being pulled from two starts, but he has played 4,366 minutes, and one sub-standard month doesn't blemish five previous months of stellar play.

That Kiprusoff (75 games, 45-23-5, 4 shutouts, 2.83 goals-against average, .903 save percentage) is leading the NHL in wins makes him a reasonably safe bet to be one of the three Vezina Trophy finalists. Not since Dominik Hasek (41 wins) in 2001-02 has the League leader in victories failed to place in the top three in voting.

Other superlatives that have defined Kiprusoff's season include taking over second place on the franchise win list, trailing only Mike Vernon; and turning in his third career 40-win season. He has faced the most shots in the League (2,124) and recorded the most saves (1,818), which adds credence to his pedestrian .903 save percentage, the lowest of these three Vezina candidates.

Nabokov (60 games, 41-10-8, 7 shutouts, 2.39 GAA, .912 save percentage) narrowly missed winning the 2008 Vezina, receiving 13 first-place votes and placing seven points behind Brodeur. Previously, he had earned fourth-place finishes in 2001 and 2002.

Unlike the injured goalies mentioned above, the fact that Nabokov missed 13 games with a lower-body injury does not detract from his Vezina worthiness. He also sat out six other games, yet he's second in the League in wins, tied for third in shutouts, and seventh in goals-against average.

Nabokov, 33, challenged his own career-high of 46 wins, achieved in 2007-08, before falling short. He's already become the sixth goaltender in NHL history to record consecutive 40-win seasons, joining Brodeur, Kiprusoff, Terry Sawchuk, Bernie Parent and Ken Dryden.

In late January, Nabokov established a franchise record with a shutout streak of 170:58 that included two consecutive shutouts, and he tied a career-high mark with a 10-game winning streak from Oct. 28 through Dec. 4.

Only in his third NHL season, Backstrom (70 games, 36-24-8, 8 shutouts, 2.31 GAA, .923 save percentage) has not appeared on the Vezina radar until now; but there is good reason to give this 31-year-old his just due.

The Helsinki native is the only goaltender currently in top League's top five in wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts.

With a paltry 205 goals scored, the Wild are near the bottom of the League, but Backstrom makes the goals stand up as Minnesota is second in fewest goals-against (193), trailing only Boston.

This season, Backstrom has set franchise records for single-season wins, shutouts and games played. He posted a career-high shutout streak of 149:19 that included two consecutive shutouts. Wisely, Wild GM Doug Risebrough signed Backstrom to a four-year contract extension March 3 rather than lose his No. 1 goalie to free agency.

As pointed out by the Vancouver Province earlier this week -- while making a case for Luongo's Vezina worthiness -- NHL GMs are less likely to support youngsters and tend to vote for established stars, so scratch Steve Mason of Columbus off the ballot but reward him with the Calder Trophy. Honorable mention also goes to Boston's Tim Thomas, but 52 games played doesn't bring him up to snuff.

Contact Rocky Bonanno at rbonanno@nhl.com.