The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs and with two<\/p>\n\n\n\n
teams remaining, the pool has narrowed down to a handful of worthy candidates. Since<\/p>\n\n\n\n
inception, it\u2019s been awarded 54 times to 47 players since the 1964-65 season. Historically the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
winning team of Stanley Cup has also produced the winner of the Conn Smythe but there have<\/p>\n\n\n\n
been five occurrences of the runner-ups housing the playoff MVP winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Connor McDavid +220<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Heading into the Finals, Connor McDavid leads the postseason with 31 points, his second time<\/p>\n\n\n\n recording at least that amount. He is nine away from joining Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux<\/p>\n\n\n\n as the only players to ever record 40 points in a single playoff run. While McJesus definitely is a<\/p>\n\n\n\n solid pick to lead the playoffs in points, it won\u2019t be the first time that he\u2019s hit that marker. In 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n he posted 33 points, leading all players in playoff points despite being knocked out in the third<\/p>\n\n\n\n round. It is the lone major individual award to elude the Oilers captain and, should he keep pace<\/p>\n\n\n\n and win the Cup, it could solidify him as one of the top players in NHL history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aleksander Barkov +350<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Perennially one of the most underrated players, the two-time Selke Trophy winner is one of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n best two-way players left in the postseason. Barkov has put up 17 points in as many games in<\/p>\n\n\n\n these playoffs and that\u2019s while shutting down some of the league’s top players. His best<\/p>\n\n\n\n opportunity to prove he is true MVP material is to be the last man standing, that is to say by<\/p>\n\n\n\n being the man to first hoist Lord Stanley\u2019s Cup this year. Should he accomplish that, it\u2019ll have<\/p>\n\n\n\n been because he shut-down the best the Oilers have to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergei Bobrovsky +375<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 35-year-old goaltender turned things up in the eastern conference finals when his Panthers<\/p>\n\n\n\n were down two games to one against the Rangers. He posted an insane .932 save percentage<\/p>\n\n\n\n in three straight wins to clinch the Prince of Wales trophy for the Panthers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leon Draisaitl +800<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the greatest postseason performers in NHL history, Leon Draisaitl is second in playoff<\/p>\n\n\n\n points with 28 and is tied for second in playoff goals at 10. Through his first 13 games in this<\/p>\n\n\n\n postseason run, Draisaitl posted 25 points alone with 12 coming on the power play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zach Hyman +7500<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Between his career high of 54 regular season markers and this being his first trip to the Finals,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyman is having an amazing year. Oh, and his 14 playoff goals this spring haven\u2019t even been<\/p>\n\n\n\n mentioned. That total would lead or tie for the lead in 24 of the past 26 playoff runs and that\u2019s<\/p>\n\n\n\n before playing a minute in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. He is just six goals away from setting<\/p>\n\n\n\n the all-time mark at 20 playoff goals, which would break Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri\u2019s record of<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19 goals apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Connor McDavid +220<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aleksander Barkov +350<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sergei Bobrovsky +375<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew Tkachuk +600<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leon Draisaitl +800<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evan Bouchard +850<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carter Verhaeghe +2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam Reinhart +5000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gustav Forsling +6600<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zach Hyman +7500<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam Bennett +25000<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ryan Nugent-Hopkins +25000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs and with two teams remaining, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":25003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[188],"class_list":["post-25001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-nhl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t