In our third edition of theScore's 2021-22 Vezina Trophy Power Rankings, we add one new netminder who's been playing at the top of his game.

Due to COVID-19 outbreaks and postponements across the league over the past month, it was difficult to evaluate performances due to sporadic schedules. With that being said, here's a look at the top five candidates for the award:

5. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks have looked like a brand new team since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach, and Demko's been one of the biggest beneficiaries. The young netminder has rattled off seven straight victories since Dec. 6 and has officially entered his name into the Vezina race. He showed flashes of brilliance at times prior to Boudreau's arrival but lacked the consistency he now seems to have found. Only John Gibson has played more minutes this season than Demko, and the team will continue to ride him as long as he stays hot.

4. Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes

Andersen continues to show that his hot start to the season wasn't just a fluke. The Hurricanes play a strong two-way, defensive game, and are in first place in the NHL when you look at points percentage. Although the club also ranks first in the league with a 55.97 Corsi For rating, Andersen is still among the league's elite this year.

3. Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins are basically back at full strength after battling injuries throughout the season, and Jarry has done everything in his power to keep the team afloat. He's won five straight games and has allowed two goals or less in 19 of his 24 contests this year. With the Penguins playing with a fully healthy lineup now, Jarry's strong play should continue and keep him in the Vezina conversation for the remainder of the season.

2. Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers

The Rangers just keep on winning and Shesterkin just keeps on doing his thing. The team currently sits right near the top of the NHL's standings, and Shesterkin is playing a large part in his team's success. The club allows the eighth-most high-danger scoring chances against (407), but Shesterkin is tied for the second-highest high-danger save percentage (.859) in the NHL. If he keeps playing at this level, it'll be hard to deny him the trophy at season's end.

1. Jack Campbell, Toronto Maple Leafs

Campbell has only appeared in six games since the beginning of December, but his high-quality stats still put him ahead of pretty much every netminder in the NHL. Campbell's workload was a cause for concern among many after starting the majority of the Maple Leafs' games to begin the season, but perhaps the time off over the last month could work in his favor.

Honorable mentions: Jacob Markstrom, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Juuse Saros

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

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The NHL announced Tuesday it's rescheduling five games, including two contests featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders.

The Islanders will now host the Leafs on Jan. 22 and travel to Toronto on April 17. Due to provincial regulations in Ontario, the Leafs wouldn't have been able to host fans against the Islanders at Scotiabank Arena if their Jan. 22 matchup went on as originally scheduled.

Additionally, the league postponed two Jan. 18 matchups between the Islanders and the Columbus Blue Jackets as well as the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings. As a result, the Flyers-Islanders contest, which was originally set for Nov. 30, will now be played Jan. 18.

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The Philadelphia Flyers placed forward Sean Couturier on injured reserve Thursday with an upper-body injury.

He's week-to-week.

Couturier skated in the Flyers' Dec. 18 contest before the league's pause due to rising COVID-19 cases. He was placed in the NHL's protocol Dec. 21 and missed the Flyers' first game back against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old has six goals and 11 assists in 29 contests this season while leading all forwards on the team with 20:23 of ice time per game.

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The Nashville Predators placed captain Roman Josi and forwards Thomas Novak and Colton Sissons in COVID-19 protocol, the team announced Monday.

Nashville removed Nick Cousins, Mikael Granlund, Philip Tomasino, Mark Borowiecki, Ben Harpur, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, and Michael McCarron from protocol. The latter two were placed on the team's taxi squad while the rest were moved to the active roster.

The Predators had one of the league's biggest outbreaks prior to the season pause on Dec. 22. Head coach John Hynes and multiple members of his coaching staff were also in protocol but have since been cleared, according to The Athletic's Adam Vingan.

Nashville, which is riding a seven-game winning streak, is slated to take on the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

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The Florida Panthers placed forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Eetu Luostarinen, and Owen Tippett, as well as defenseman MacKenzie Weegar into the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, the team announced Sunday.

The club previously placed Sam Bennett, Radko Gudas, Ryan Lomberg, Brandon Montour, Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, and Frank Vatrano on the COVID-19 list before the season paused on Dec. 22.

Huberdeau leads the Panthers with 33 points in 29 contests this season. Weegar ranks second on the team with 23:55 minutes of ice time per game.

The Panthers are slated to take on the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Florida last played on Dec. 16 against the Los Angeles Kings.

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The NHL and NHLPA have formalized a number of CBA exemptions to give teams battling COVID-19 cases some roster relief, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Teams that would dress fewer than two goalies, six defensemen, or 12 forwards for a game will now be permitted to make emergency recalls as long as the cap hit of the player does not exceed $1 million.

If a team's two regular goaltenders are not available, the club will be allowed to add an additional netminder.

Teams will also have the option to use taxi squads until the All-Star break, which is slated for Feb. 5. The taxi squad can have a maximum of six players on it at once and players can only be on it for 20 days or less.

Players can’t be on the taxi squad if they're on an NHL roster as of Dec. 22; are waiver-exempt; were on an NHL roster for at least 75% of the regular-season days or have played in 16 of a team’s last 20 games through Dec. 22.

The NHL began its holiday break early by pausing all games on Dec. 22 amid an outbreak of COVID-19 cases across the league. Games are expected to resume on Tuesday.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning placed forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, and goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, according to team reporter Bryan Burns.

Assistant coach Rob Zettler also entered protocol, joining head coach Jon Cooper, who was placed on the list earlier this week.

The Lightning had no players in protocol prior to Sunday. The club is scheduled to play the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night when the NHL resumes.

With Vasilevskiy and Elliott both potentially unavailable, the club will turn to Maxime Lagace, Amir Miftakhov, or Hugo Alnefelt in net.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Jake Muzzin in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol, the team announced Sunday.

The club now has 14 players and several staff members - including head coach Sheldon Keefe - in the protocol.

Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, starting goaltender Jack Campbell, and top defenseman Morgan Rielly are all in the protocol. William Nylander, Alexander Kerfoot, Ilya Mikheyev, Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, David Kampf, TJ Brodie, Travis Dermott, Rasmus Sandin, and netminder Petr Mrazek have all received the designation as well.

Toronto has the second-most players in protocol among NHL teams, trailing only the Calgary Flames as COVID-19 cases continue to spike around the league.

The NHL originally postponed three Maple Leafs contests from Dec. 16-19 and eventually paused all games from Dec. 22-26. It announced Friday that all games on Dec. 27 have also been postponed.

Toronto last played on Dec. 14 and is next scheduled to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 29. The Maple Leafs have had five games postponed so far.

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The IIHF canceled the U18 Women's World Championship on Friday.

This marks the second straight year the event has been axed due to the pandemic. The January tournament, one of seven canceled by the IIHF due to recent COVID-related developments, was supposed to take place in Sweden beginning Jan. 8.

"These are hard facts to have to face, and as with last year, we must take the difficult decision to cancel men's and women's IIHF events, including the women's U18 top division now for the second year in a row," said IIHF President Luc Tardif.

"It is the consensus of the IIHF Medical Committee that the organizers would not have the capability to manage an outbreak of the virus, especially with the rapid transfer of the omicron variant that we have seen in the NHL and other leagues."

Plenty of prominent professional women's players expressed their displeasure in the outright cancelation of the tournament despite the fact that the U18 men's championship is slated to begin this week.

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Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk didn't really support the idea of sending NHL players to the 2022 Beijing Olympics - mainly because of a haunting memory involving Dominik Hasek in 2006.

"You don’t want your players to go over there and get hurt," Melnyk told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch. "It’s a nightmare, I’ve lived it, and it cost us the chance of winning a Stanley Cup.

"I don’t want to get caught again because doing it once was enough."

The Senators were one of the NHL's most dominant teams during the 2005-06 season, with a 41-year-old Hasek in the crease. During the first half of the campaign, he recorded a stellar .925 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average in 43 contests.

The club allowed Hasek to suit up for the Czech Republic at the 2006 Turin Olympics. While playing for his country, he suffered an adductor muscle tear less than 10 minutes into his first game of the tournament.

Hasek remained sidelined for the remainder of the season while Ray Emery took over as the team's starter. Ottawa finished first in the Eastern Conference but bowed out of the playoffs in the second round.

"The thing that happened, that we all feared, actually happened (with Hasek getting hurt)," Melnyk said. "You don’t have a lot of chances to win a Stanley Cup. That was our year, and that was our chance, and it was taken away from us."

Hasek went on to sign with the Detroit Red Wings during the offseason, concluding his only campaign with the Senators. The club made it to the Stanley Cup Final the following year but lost to the Anaheim Ducks.

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