NHL Conn Smythe Trophy rankings: Early look at the top 5 candidates originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
While the playoffs have only just started, it’s never too early to take stock of the Conn Smythe Trophy favorites.
We’ll be offering a weekly Conn Smythe series, providing updates and analysis on the countless twists and turns the post-season embodies.
This week’s segment focuses on who is most likely to win playoff MVP, based on if their team is predicted to go on a Cup run and their skill level.
Three of the five featured players are battling for the Hart Trophy, but only two have previously won the Conn Smythe.
In search of his first Conn Smythe Trophy, Nikita Kucherov swatted an oversized monkey from his back by scoring for the first time in 17 playoff contests in Game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens.
Kucherov, who has three points (one goal and two assists) through two games, has come out firing, already with 10 shots on goal.
The Tampa Bay Lightning wizard is among the favorites to win the Hart Trophy, and he has proven his ability to produce in the post-season, with 174 points in 154 games. He tallied 93 points in 71 games when the Lightning made three successive appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
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The Colorado Avalanche own a 2-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Kings despite Cale Makar not registering a point.
The reason he’s among the five favourites to win the award is twofold: He plays for the team with the best Stanley Cup odds, and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy for his playoff heroics when the Avs won the Cup in 2022.
He is also tied with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas for the team lead in shots (7), which means the production is just around the corner.
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Thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes storming out to a 2-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators, Sebastian Aho is among the five early favorites.
However, he has just one goal and five shots thus far. The primary reason he’s on the leaderboard is because of the Hurricanes’ recent playoff success. They lost in the Eastern Conference finals in two of the previous three seasons, both times to the already-eliminated Florida Panthers.
Aho, who led the team with 80 points in the regular season, is also a beacon of playoff consistency, notching 86 points in 91 games.
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Off to an unconventional, almost unheard of, slow start, Connor McDavid didn’t register a point in the first two games against the Anaheim Ducks.
The only other time he didn’t notch a point in the opening two games of a playoff was in 2020-21 against the Winnipeg Jets.
But if you’ve watched McDavid in the playoffs, you know he’s about to explode. He had several good looks in Game 2 and was unfortunate not to grab a few points. The points will come; it’s as inevitable as the Edmonton Oilers conceding unnecessary goals.