^ i seriously doubt anaheim goes very far without niedermayer, unless you replace him with another d-man capable of playing half the game. beyond their top three, that was a very weak d corps, which is why nieds, pronger, and beauchemin each averaged more than 29 minutes a game in that playoffs. actually, just to drive the point home, pronger and beauchemin each averaged over 30 minutes, and niedermayer averaged 29:51. that leaves 30 minutes a game between the other three defensemen on the team.
of conn smythe winners since the lockout, i'd say toews was probably the most dispensable. not to say that chicago would have won without him, but that was a very deep team and he wasn't exactly the motor behind the team in the finals. that said, you could just as easily argue that they wouldn't have even beat nashville in the first round without him.
of smythe winners in the last 20 years, it seems crazy to say, but i'd argue that the penguins in '92 probably have the best chance to win if their conn smythe winner was injured the entire playoffs. that was just a fantastic team. they won three games against the president's trophy team (NYR) without lemieux. hell, once they got rolling, they won eleven straight to decisively take the cup, and lemieux missed the first four of those games.