2026 Conn Smythe Winner is: Jordan Staal

[Plural]

But I do believe Marner was the best player these playoffs by a considerable margin.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Yeah. I'm all for weighing defensive contributions evenly for the trophy.
But let's not pretend Marner wasn't great defensively too, on top his gigantic lead in points.

This is what should have been one of the most clear cut winners ever and they still got it wrong.

It was only a clear cut winner if Vegas won. They didn’t.

The only time it’s been given to a player on the losing team in the last 40 years was Giguere in 03 and McDavid in 24. And Marner’s performance was NOWHERE near as good as those two.

 

[Davegarri]

I say this with the utmost respect. I can't wait for this dude to retire.

He's just a tank and so hard to play against. I don't know how he hasn't won a Selke

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It was only a clear cut winner if Vegas won. They didn’t.

This perspective has never made any sense and it still doesn't.
You can be the best player on the ice for a game and still lose that game. This happens constantly for McDavid, for example.

If you're weighing the most valuable player, you look at their contributions on the ice, not the final team result.
A player can only do what's in his power. They shouldn't be punished for the failings of others.

 

[Champion]

Until Marner shows that he doesn't disappear when it ACTUALLY counts, he will never win this award.

It goes to true warriors, like the Staal brothers

Wtf the others do? Slap fight with Semin? Jordan had a great SCF.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

This perspective has never made any sense and it still doesn't.
You can be the best player on the ice for a game and still lose that game. This happens constantly for McDavid, for example.

If you're weighing the most valuable player, you look at their contributions on the ice, not the final team result.
A player can only do what's in his power. They shouldn't be punished for the failings of others.

Key word there: A game.

This wasn’t “a game”. This was “a series.” 4 of them, in fact. And Carolina won 4 of them, while Vegas only won 3. Thus, the most valuable player is likely one of the players on the winning team, barring an absolutely ridiculous performance. And Marner’s was good, but not world-beating.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

The only time it’s been given to a player on the losing team in the last 40 years was Giguere in 03 and McDavid in 24. And Marner’s performance was NOWHERE near as good as those two.

And that proves how corrupt this voting is. There is no way that in 38 of the last 40 years the most valuable player was on the winning team. That is not what happened. I watched like 35 of those years.

Marner isn't being put up against 2024 McDavid or 2003 Giguere. He's being put up against 2026 Staal and Hall, and whoever else was high in the voting.
There was a huge amount of daylight between him and the rest, in terms of contributions. Easily enough to deserve the win.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

There was a huge amount of daylight between him and the rest, in terms of contributions. Easily enough to deserve the win.

There was not.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Until Marner shows that he doesn't disappear when it ACTUALLY counts, he will never win this award.

It goes to true warriors, like the Staal brothers

R1 to R3 does actually count. You need 16 wins, not 4.
People just overhype the Finals and tune out the rest. They brainwash people into believing nothing else matters.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

But I do believe Marner was the best player these playoffs by a considerable margin.

At least someone's not nuts.

 

[koyvoo]

But I do believe Marner was the best player these playoffs by a considerable margin.

I’m not sure how a better argument for “most valuable” could be made for a player.

When her carried them, they won. When he had off nights, no one else on his team could be counted on to do the same.

 

[Oddbob]

Should have been Hall in my opinion.

 

[Crazy Monkey]

R1 to R3 does actually count. You need 16 wins, not 4.
People just overhype the Finals and tune out the rest. They brainwash people into believing nothing else matters.

Never said it doesnt. But how you finish matters more than how you start. And Marner, once again, can't finish

I know many on this board were collectively hoping for Mitch to win the cup and Conn Smythe to rub it in the Leafs fans faces some more.

But Marner did the one thing he is consistently good at- being a magician and disappearing when things get tough. But, this time not at Toronto's expense. Nice to be on this side of it for once

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Never said it doesnt. But how you finish matters more than how you start. And Marner, once again, can't finish

This is not my belief. I see the Cup as needing 16 pieces of a puzzle. Every win is equivalent value.
My view is that if someone dominates in the 3rd round and ghosts in the Finals, it's the same damn thing as the opposite.
Because in both cases, that player is counting on his teammates to cover for him for a full round.

It's just less sexy to not do it in the finals, that's all.
But the amount of wins you need doesn't change.

Sometimes your hardest opponents are in earlier rounds. This was the case for my team in 3 of their 5 Cups.

I know many on this board were collectively hoping for Mitch to win the cup and Conn Smythe to rub it in the Leafs fans faces some more.

But Marner did the one thing he is consistently good at- being a magician and disappearing when things get tough. But, this time not at Toronto's expense. Nice to be on this side of it for once

Don't care at all about any of that. I'm a Pens fan. I have no hidden motive. Just want integrity to matter in the league.
I want voters to go for who's deserving and not what the best story is. They've lost their way.

 

[Crazy Monkey]

This is not my belief. I see the Cup as needing 16 pieces of a puzzle. Every win is equivalent value.
My view is that if someone dominates in the 3rd round and ghosts in the Finals, it's the same damn thing as the opposite.
Because in both cases, that player is counting on his teammates to cover for him for a full round.

It's just less sexy to not do it in the finals, that's all.
But the amount of wins you need doesn't change.

Sometimes your hardest opponents are in earlier rounds. This was the case for my team in 3 of their 5 Cups.

Don't care at all about any of that. I'm a Pens fan. I have no hidden motive. Just want integrity to matter in the league.
I want voters to go for who's deserving and not what the best story is. They've lost their way.

I respect this post

I do think finals matter more than the other 3 rounds. And your best players need to be your best players when the stakes are highest and Mitch just wasn't that once again

I place more value on Staal dominating the SCF than Marner dominating two easier opponents and an injury riddled Avs team. I also wouldnt say Staal disappeared in the first 3 rounds

Many Leaf fans anticipated this would happen once Mitch faced a team that would play him hard

 

[Cap'n Flavour]

Goal differential is an absolutely abysmal way to evaluate defensive play. As you yourself point out, different lines get different types of deployment, some more favorable than others. It's why we often see 3rd pairing Dmen on dominant teams have sky-high +/- numbers, despite being mediocre players at best.

lol. Even if goal differential were an "abysmal" metric, the scoring chance metrics align exactly the same way. Yes Stankoven's line got more favourable deployment but the zone starts part of it are hardly that extreme - even Staal was at 48% d-zone starts. They were excellent with breakouts and that's just as valuable if not more so than blocking shots or whatever else you want to call defense.

Taylor Hall averaged 16:29 min of icetime in these playoffs, 8th among his own team's forwards.

Give me a break. Stankoven, Blake and Hall were 1-2-3 in forward TOI at 5v5. They just didn't play as much on the PK and got less PP time than Aho and Jarvis. So? That doesn't mean they were bad defensively. They weren't feasting on the PP and getting wrecked 5v5. On the contrary, they were absolutely dominant 5v5.

Largely because he was not as reliable defensively as most of the Canes' (admittedly excellent) forward corps. He wasn't used on the Canes' PK (which was outstanding, and one of the main reasons for their win) and wasn't used as often when the Canes needed to defend leads (which is what they did for most of the playoffs).

Because he was busy getting them those leads! These are points you'd make against a Selke winner, not a Conn Smythe.

Certainly the Canes' coaching staff didn't seem to feel like he was the most valuable player on the team. The thought of him winning the Smythe with this little icetime is a bit absurd; even Justin Williams, the worst Smythe pick of this millenium, played more per game than him. Stankoven I wouldn't have minded as much, because at least he's a more active, involved player, but I still think Staal was a more important player for this team.

Why does +/- 1 shift a game matter? TOI is such an inane argument. It's also really ironic because part of the difference between the three is that Stankoven and Blake played more at 4v4, and Blake was on for 2 4v4 GA. I don't remember them off the top of my head but sure, yes, in those cases and in a few rare double-shift, Blake and Stankoven went on more often than Hall. But they were on for a bunch of goals against in those extra minutes that Hall wasn't! I don't have it seared in my memory who was at fault for those goals but Hall wasn't getting burned. Presumably the award is more for things that actually happened rather than counterfactuals.

It's the exact same case with Miller/Ghostisbehere. I actually like Ghost, but if you genuinely think he was more valuable to the Canes than Miller, all because he has 3 more points (which is little considering he was the team's PP1 guy), I question whether you're actually watching the games or just the stat sheet.

I watched every damn game, don't give me that crap. I didn't even say he was more valuable than Miller. The metrics such as they are are in Miller's favour. Ghost just did an excellent job carrying a weaker D partner in Nikishin. Quality of teammates is as much of a consideration as opposition. In that sense Staal deserves credit for dragging along Martinook until he was swapped for Jarvis (who wasn't great either), sure.

 

[enthusiast]

silly.

 

[Divine]

Yeah. I think he needs to get over 35-ish points and around 15 goals. He wasn't winning the Smythe when Knights lost in 6 either. Needs to be a 7 game series.

I think it's more than that, even if he had those numbers. Imagine giving it to the player who jumped out of the way of an empty net shot down 2-0 with over a minute left and their season on the line. That goal effectively put away any chance of a comeback. He did a lot of horrible things in the last 3 games that cost him it. He showed no desire to avoid elimination at the end of the game too.

If he attempts to and successfully blocks that shot and they go the other way and score they have a chance.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I respect this post

I do think finals matter more than the other 3 rounds. And your best players need to be your best players when the stakes are highest and Mitch just wasn't that once again

I place more value on Staal dominating the SCF than Marner dominating two easier opponents and an injury riddled Avs team.

Many Leaf fans anticipated this would happen once Mitch faced a team that would play him hard

If your best players are not your best players in earlier rounds you usually won't see a Finals at all. You won't even be eligible for those games.
This league's too balanced to coast and just show up in a Finals as a star player.
R1-R3 performance is not optional just because they get less scrutiny.

I'm fine with weighing the difficulty of the road along different checkpoints, like you're referring to, in each individual year.
But my problem is that they don't even do that. They largely ignore the first 3 rounds no matter what happens.

And the biggest problem I have is how people are lying here.
Because let's say this series went 7, with Vegas winning, but both Staal and Marner mirrored their overall contributions to the series, like just happened.
Only the winner changes, without the influence of those players.

In that case everyone would unanimously agree that Marner deserves the Smythe, simply because Vegas won. There wouldn't be a soul arguing for Staal.
That would happen 100%. Many people don't even truly care about how the results were wrought, only which team's players won.
But much worse than that is that the voters think like this too.

If Dorofyev went nuclear in games 6 and 7, or Hart stood on his head, with Marner ghosting those games, they would give the trophy to Marner hands-down.
It's a dishonest process and has been for a very long time.

 

[Fordy]

sure, it's biased, but if you want to win the conn smythe, it makes sense you should win the cup first

 

[PantherEnjoyer88]

People can always choose the sample size they want to suit their narrative. The truth is that Marner played well in every SCF game, sometimes the puck goes in, sometimes it doesn't. Losing Karlsson was big. Opponents goalie being hot was also big.

Staal was the captain, scored big goals and led his team to victory. Congrats to him and the whole team!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

sure, it's biased, but if you want to win the conn smythe, it makes sense you should win the cup first

That's fine. But in that case change the stated requirement of the trophy, if you can't follow your own rules. Make it winners only.
"Most valuable player of the winning team". There. Done. No more illusions.

 

[Divine]

That's fine. But in that case change the stated requirement of the trophy, if you can't follow your own rules. Make it winners only.
"Most valuable player of the winning team". There. Done. No more illusions.

Mitch Marner wasn't the most valuable player in the playoffs. That's why he didn't win.

Even if you're just stat-watching. Ehlers had more points in the finals than him. Ehlers had more points in the semi-finals than him. Jackson Blake had more even-strength points than him through the entire playoffs, Hall tied him.

Lots of options other than Staal but Staal did something historic with both goals and the best faceoff percentage ever in the finals.

 

[Horton Hears A Woo]

Totally deserved. Great final.

It’s not just based on the finals tho it makes zero sense that he won it