Andrey Vasilevsky is one of the best Russian hockey goalkeepers of this generation. Despite his young age, the goalkeeper has spent several seasons in the NHL, earned a place in the main team from Tampa. He was called upon to defend the gates of the Russian team at the most important tournaments.
Andrei Andreyevich Vasilevsky is a native of Tyumen. Born July 25, 1994 in a sports family. His father Andrei Leonidovich himself was a professional hockey player. He played as a goalkeeper in the Tyumen “Ruby". As a child, Vasilevsky Jr. often watched his father's sporting activities, which gradually led to the development of a love of hockey.
In 2000, Andrei’s father became the coach of goalkeepers HC “Tolpar” Ufa. By that time, Vasilevsky Jr. had already grown up in order to start practicing in the hockey section. Andrei Andreevich began to receive his first hockey education at the sports school of the Ufa “Salavat Yulaev”. The biography of the future goalkeeper includes a time when Vasilevsky played in the position of striker. It is in this role that the future gate guard began his career. Only a few years later Vasilevsky Jr. decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and was re-qualified as a goalkeeper.
Vasilevsky's career in Russia
Vasilevsky's hockey career began as part of Tolpar. The goalkeeper has been playing for this club in the Youth Hockey League since 2010. Spent three full seasons. The debut for the goalkeeper at an adult level took place in the season 2012 - 2013, when the goalkeeper's talent allowed him to be included in the main team of “Salavat Yulaev” (Ufa). In his first season in the KHL, Vasilevsky played eight matches with a safety coefficient of 2.22 and a percentage of reflected shots over 92%. The next season, Vasilevsky took part in 28 matches. In 2014, he first participated in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, in which he spent 18 games, missing on average less than two goals per game. Such a game by Vasilevsky contributed to Salavat winning the silver medals of the Russian championship.
Vasilevsky's career in the NHL
Work on training and playing creativity allowed Vasilevsky at a young age to try his hand overseas. Back in 2012, Andrei was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning club, but he left for America only in 2014. At first, the goalkeeper played in the American Hockey League.
The debut for Tampa in the NHL for Vasilevsky took place on December 16, 2014. The rival of the "lightning" in that match were the "pilots" from Philadelphia. Vasilevsky's club won, and the goalkeeper himself could not reflect only one throw out of twenty-four. In total, in the 2014-2015 season, Vasilevsky spent 16 matches in the NHL regular season. The rest of the time, the goalkeeper played for the farm club of the main team from Tampa.
To gain a foothold as the main goalkeeper, Lining, Vasilevsky was able to already in the season 2016 - 2017. His statistics for the calendar game year are as follows: 50 games in the “regular season” with a safety factor of 2.61 and 91.7% of the reflected shots. Starting from the following seasons, Andrei's indicators only improved. He gradually became one of the most reliable NHL goalkeepers.
In the season 2018 - 2019, Andrei Vasilevsky, according to many overseas experts, may well claim the title of best goalkeeper of the NHL season.
Despite the fact that Andrei stands for the club, which in recent seasons has been one of the favorites in the fight for the Stanley Cup, the Russian goalkeeper has not managed to win such an honorable trophy.
