Stanley Cup Playoffs 2020: Top 5 Conn Smythe Trophy candidates
Heading into the Stanley Cup Final, which players are the favorites to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Every league has some form of a postseason MVP award, whether it’s for the final series or for the playoffs overall. Of the four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL), only the NHL awards it for the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each year, the Conn Smythe Trophy goes to the postseason MVP.
Last year, Ryan O’Reilly won the Conn Smythe less than 12 months after being traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the St. Louis Blues. Past winners include Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby (twice), Duncan Keith, Patrick Kane, and Justin Williams.
Who will be this year’s top playoff hero? This year’s postseason has featured numerous heroes for both teams. It should be a lot of fun to see how voters vote on the Conn Smythe.
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With the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars set to start on Saturday, let’s take a look at the top five Conn Smythe Trophy candidates.
Honorable Mention
Nikita Kucherov has been terrific for the Tampa Bay Lightning and actually leads them in points in the postseason with 26. However, he was less than stellar (though still pretty good) without Brayden Point as his center. Also, the Lightning have more important players. This isn’t a knock on Kucherov, it’s a testament to how darn good the Bolts are.
5. Brayden Point
It’s weird seeing Brayden Point this low in the rankings. After all, when he’s been on the ice, he’s more often than not been the best player on the ice. Point has been especially clutch this postseason, as two of his nine goals have been overtime game-winning goals.
However, let’s talk about why he might not win it. Point has been playing injured and he had to miss two games due to injury in the Eastern Conference Final. Will his injury flare back up in the Stanley Cup Final? Who knows. But it’s worth pointing out Point still looked pretty darn good in Game 6 against the Islanders.
Usually, Point would be the favorite or darn close to it. But with a loaded team, there are more deserving candidates on the Lightning. And boy, does that say a lot about how great they are.
4. Anton Khudobin
If you’re looking for a great feel-good story, Anton Khudobin is the guy for you. He entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Dallas Stars backup goalie. Ben Bishop got injured, which means Khudobin had to become the starter. He’s been the starter in all but one of the Stars 19 games and has appeared in each of their 19 games.
Khudobin has been amazing in the postseason. His .920% save percentage is the second-best in the NHL (min. 10 games). Also, no goalie has seen more shots against or made more saves this postseason than Khudobin.
He stole several games against the Vegas Golden Knights. In Games 3, 4, and 5, Khudobin stopped faced 40, 33, and 36 shots, respectively and made 38, 32, and 34 saves, respectively. The Stars won each of those three games.
Tampa has a high-octane offense, which means Khudobin could once again have his hands full. If the Stars win the Stanley Cup, it will likely be due to Khudobin stealing at least one or two games during the series. Maybe even more.
There are more deserving candidates on the Dallas Stars right now. We’ll get to them a little bit later. But don’t sleep on Khudobin as a Conn Smythe candidate. He’s very much in the race.
3. Jamie Benn
Jamie Benn has faced some well-deserved criticism in recent years. Heck, his team’s president is on record calling him “horse****”. But during this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Benn has silenced his critics.
So far this postseason, Benn has 18 points, including eight goals, in 21 games. That’s second on the team, trailing only Heiskanen. His eight goals trail only Denis Gurianov and Joe Pavelski, who have nine goals each.
Benn’s impact has gone far beyond the stat sheet though. He’s set the tone in many games, including throughout their Western Conference Final battle against the Vegas Golden Knights. Benn’s been engaged throughout the postseason, throwing hits and making big plays.
If the Stars win, history is on Benn’s side. If there is any sort of debate about who should win the Conn Smythe, voters have historically leaned towards the captain. This happened in 2018, when Alex Ovechkin got the nod over Evgeny Kuznetsov. Crosby won back-to-back Conn Smythes in 2016 and 2017 over players like Phil Kessel and their goalies.
Benn’s been a part of so many big moments for the Stars during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Stars feed off of their captain. Their best games have generally come when Benn has had his best games.
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy
It’s been a little while since a goaltender has won the Conn Smythe Trophy. The last one was Jonathan Quick back in 2014. Only five goalies have won it in the 21st century (including one on the losing team). It wouldn’t surprise me if Andrei Vasilevskiy joins the group of goalies to win the Conn Smythe.
First of all, it’s going to be so darn hard to pick a Tampa Bay Lightning skater to win the Conn Smythe. This might persuade voters to go the easy route and vote for the goalie. That isn’t to say Vasilevskiy wouldn’t be deserving, because he absolutely would be. His .931% save percentage is by far the best in the postseason among goalies with at least 10 games played and he’s only allowed 1.82 goals against per game.
Of the four conference finalists, Tampa was the only team to start just one goaltender for the entire postseason. Vasilevskiy has even started a few back-to-backs. Sure, Tampa has made his life relatively easy. He’s only faced more than 30 shots seven times in 19 games. But each time Tampa has needed their franchise goalie to step up, Vasilevskiy has done it.
If Vasilevskiy continues to post extremely strong numbers, Tampa’s skaters continue to make it hard to pick just one of them for the Conn Smythe, and the Lightning win the Stanley Cup, he’ll probably win the award.
1a. Miro Heiskanen
1b. Victor Hedman
I tried to decide between these two stellar European defensemen and I simply couldn’t. So I cheated by putting them both at number one. Deal with it.
You could flip those two and I’d have no meaningful objections. Miro Heiskanen and Victor Hedman have both been outstanding during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Heiskanen ranks fourth among all players, including third among those left in the postseason, in points with 22. Hedman’s 0.79 points per game rank sixth among all defensemen with at least 10 games played.
Furthermore, Hedman has nine goals, which is the most of any defenseman in the post-2013 lockout era. He’s three goals away from tying Paul Coffey for the most goals by a defenseman in a single postseason. Hedman has been averaging well over 25 minutes per night and his impact goes far beyond the stat sheet.
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Right now, I’d say Heiskanen and Hedman would be the Conn Smythe winners, though with the latter, there could be a tad bit of recency bias, especially with Hedman. But honestly, I’m fine with that.