Alright I'll address this post because I think the rationale is not great.
Couture was the most valuable player. That is the very definition of the award. There is no case what-so-ever that a player producing at a 65 point / 21 goal pace is more valuable than a player who is producing at a 103 point / 34 goal pace while also contributing more defensively. There are lots of fans who think team success and individual player value coincide almost invariably. This is synonymous with not understanding the game. I think you know that.
I understand that the voters don't go this way often, but it isn't never, nor is that part of the definition of the trophy, and so this statement: "...he had no case for winning the Smythe" is unfounded.
There is definitely a case. It is better than Crosby's by a wide margin IMO.
Regardless, let's review the history of each time a player won without leading the playoffs in points:
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In most cases it was a goalie or defenseman - players who, unlike Crosby - contribute primarily on the defensive side of things. It is perfectly logical not to rate these players on points when point accumulation isn't their primary responsibility.
And then among the forwards who won the CS despite the points leader in the playoffs playing for a losing team, you really just have three other instances:
Toews, who was 3% behind in points and 71% behind in goals (while also contributing quite a bit on the PK while Briere didn't PK)
Lemieux, who was 50% behind in points but had 85% more goals the Fedorov. Fedorov was notoriously great at defense.
Nieuwendyk, who was 14% behind in points, but had 38% more goals than Forsberg.
I don't see how those support Crosby being 58% behind in points while also being 67% behind the same guy in goals, while also contributing less defensively than that guy.
Boy that was an awful lot of digging just to find out that none of this remotely supports Crosby's Conn Smythe and that Crosby's award is still an outlier (gift). This really just highlights his outlier status even more.
I think Crosby's 2016 Conn Smythe very clearly belonged in that 9% - which would make it 10% or 12% or something if it was factored in to the sample. I mean yeah, the massive difference of contribution from Couture down to Crosby was very likely in the top 10% of times when a losing player outplayed a player from the winning team.
Can you name another time when a losing player had such a huge margin in goals and points while also contributing more defensively over the CS winner?
