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The NHL continuously turning the Conn Smythe into a lifetime achievement award is getting ridiculous

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I think voters did not want to single out one particular person from Hall/Stankoven/Blake trio when all 3 were relatively close. I do feel Hall could have won the CS if he was at PPG level in finals rather than 0.5 PPG.

Ehlers was guy I thought should have been talked up more but there was not much media chatter around him.

How would you have felt if Ehlers won Conn Smythe over Jordan Staal?

Also this Marner for Conn Smythe talk is bizarre. We know voters are not going to give it to player from losing team unless the performance is all-time historically great. Marner's playoff performance was not at that level.
 
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The standard for a player on the losing team winning is extremely high.

I'm surprised Slavin didn't get more discussion. With all the forwards being decent, I thought it was a good time to reward an outstanding defensive performance.
 
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Youre kinda correctthe definition pf the award doesnt match the reality. I mean, the precendent has been set tons of other times.

It takes a legendary run for a player not on the winning team to win the CS. McDavid with 42 pts still ranks as the 4th best offensive performance in the playoffs in NHL history. Marner's playoffs were quite far from that.

So yeah, the criterion are basically
- win the cup
- show up clutch in the finals
- play well the rest of the way
- recensy bias is strong with this award
 
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Slayer97 said:
First of all, congratulations to the Hurricanes and their fans. Well-deserved title as they were clearly the better team for majority of the series, and they finally were able to clamp down and shut out the Knights flying offence. Great performances by Bussi and Hall (who I'm very happy for)

That being said... what the hell is the NHL doing?

Jordan Staal wins the Conn Smythe at 37 years old and we’re all supposed to pretend this is normal? No disrespect to Staal. Good player. Great captain. Great Final. But the Conn Smythe is supposed to go to the playoff MVP, not the guy with the best story. It feels like the voters saw a 37-year-old captain finally lifting the Cup and couldn’t resist the narrative. Marner was flat out robbed and I'm getting a little tired of the NHL continuously screwing this up.

The same thing happened in 2016. Crosby got the trophy while guys like Kessel/Murray/Couture had a very legitimate argument for being the best playoff performer.

At some point we need to decide what this award is supposed to be.

Is it:
  • A) The best player over four rounds?
  • B) The player attached to the best story?
  • C) Best player in the Finals?
Even if you didn't think Marner didn't deserve it, there is no way Staal deserved it for the entirety of the playoffs. If that's the case, make a SCF MVP award.

Things like this make the CS become a joke of an award and it seems like whoever has the best narrative/story will win it. This may be the absolute worst Conn Smythe winner... possibly ever.
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Tell us you haven't watched this year's playoffs without telling us you haven't watched this year's playoffs.

If something is a joke, then it's this silly thread launched by you. 🤦‍♂️
 
Tired of people saying Kessel was some obvious choice over Crosby, he had 3 less points than Phil while playing harder minutes, Defense, and at a more valuable position.

Now if you want to argue Letang deserved it most, i'd agree, 15 points from defense, most minutes, and scored the cup GWG. , while shutting teams down. Not One dimensional Kessel.
 
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HabzSauce said:
Not gonna give it to losing team unless they go superhuman like McDavid. If Vegas won then of course goes to marner

I think Staal was good choice. Could have been a few guys, no clear cut MVP on Carolina
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Even then, I wonder if we will see the losing team get another Conn Smythe after McDavid no-showed to accept it. I have no issue with McDavid doing that, but it had to be embarrassing for the league
 
CraigBillington said:
Even then, I wonder if we will see the losing team get another Conn Smythe after McDavid no-showed to accept it. I have no issue with McDavid doing that, but it had to be embarrassing for the league
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The league has no one to blame for McDavid not being out there to accept the Conn Smythe other than themselves. He was out there for somewhere between 6-8 minutes after the game ended, shaking all the Florida players hands. He eventually had to go into his own locker room and be with his teammates after a crushing loss. The league had every opportunity to give him that trophy before he skated off. Drives me nuts how people think he’s a sore loser and lacking class because he didn’t come back out (likely wasn’t thinking about it or didn’t remotely hear them announce he won it either way).

Compare it to Giguere being given the Conn Smythe in a losing effort about 90 seconds after the horn sounded. Night and day difference and surprise surprise, the NHL made it awkward when it came to McDavid.

As for Staal, he’s a fine choice. Carolina didn’t have a clear cut favorite going into the Finals, even more so when they sat Andersen, and Staal ended up scoring 6 goals in the series. Seemed as good a choice as any.
 
Making this thread and arguing that Marner should have won is hilarious.

I watched every minute of the Canes run, from Staal’s opening faceoff fight to the very end. Staal was a f***ing beast. Hall was, imo, equally deserving, despite having just an ok finals. Blake would have been next up, then Stankoven/Ehlers, then Miller. None of them were head and shoulders above the other.

But Staal was the best player in the finals by a margin, and excellent from day one to win 16.

He absolutely deserved the Smythe. It was a team effort and he led the team, stepping up and delivering in all facets of the game and in all areas of the ice. Presumably off it, too.
 
Nah... not Conn Smythe Material
Screenshot_20260615_002144_Instagram.png
 
There's a lot more to hockey than point totals. Anyone who watched the Canes in the playoffs could easily see Staal's impact, especially in the finals when he was giving VGK fits in ALL three zones. Being on the Cup winning team and having a strong finals weigh heavily into the equation, as they should. Staal 100 percent deseved the Conn Smythe.
 
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Sounds like OP wants to normalize rewarding losers. It was f***ing AWESOME when McDavid won the Conn Smythe and lost the cup but most people agree he deserved it. Marner disappeared when it mattered most and went 0-0 and -3 in a losing effort to stay in the Stanley Cup finals. Marner isn't gonna get his participant award for this run.

Staal on the other hand scored big goals and shutdown some pretty good hockey players on the way to captaining the Stanley Cup winners.

Easy pick for Conn Smythe given his Finals performance.
 
Seriously, who shouldve won it? Carolina's starter got rightfully yanked (they don't win the cup if Freddy stays in). Their first line was nothing special. There just weren't many standouts. The award going to a Selke level shut down C who scored some big SCF goals was the correct choice.

Marner would've been a farce just like McDavid winning it a few years ago was.
 
HavingACow4Cowan said:
I'd probably have gone with Hall (his line kind of carried them offensively through the first three rounds and he did most of his damage at even strength), but Staal did have much more defensive responsibility and he outperformed him in the last round. Vegas was the best team they played by a wide margin, and he stood out with his goal scoring in the SCF.
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I'd have to see the voting, but it's possible that Hall and Stankoven split the votes for the voters who wanted to give it to the 2nd line (Hall more points, Stankoven more goals), and Staal won the national media who tuned in for the finals.

I have absolutely no problem with Staal winning it, but Stankoven would have been my choice. That 2nd line was dominant all playoffs. Staal did his thing, elite defense as he always does to the point where we take it for granted, but those goals in the Finals really drew attention that elite defense doesn't usually get. End of the day, everyone on the team was pulling on the rope and that's how you win, so there were a lot of deserving guys.
 
OrrNumber4 said:
The standard for a player on the losing team winning is extremely high.

I'm surprised Slavin didn't get more discussion. With all the forwards being decent, I thought it was a good time to reward an outstanding defensive performance.
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Slavin was below his usual standards this year, including in the playoffs, largely due to the knee injury that kept him out for a big chunk of the year. Played a hell of a game in Game 6 for sure, but he's looked human for most of the playoffs. Still very good, but not as elite as he's been in prior years.
 
Marner had a good overall playoffs but 29 points happens almost every year its nowhere near worthy of winning MVP while losing.

The real question should be why did the Vegas fans make Marner go -5 with only 1 point after game 3.
 
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