Where can I find voting records for the Conn Smythe Trophy?

[Chriscftb97]

Hockey Reference has voting records for the other awards, but I'm not finding anything for the Smythe. Are historic ballots available anywhere to take a look at?

Click to read more...

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I've never seen it published or otherwise publicly released. Occasionally, you'll get an anecdote.

 

[McGarnagle]

I don't think it's even officially tabulated, it's just a straw poll of sportswriters in the press box at the very end of the final game of the SCF.

 

[seventieslord]

I've only seen detailed results the last 5 years or so.

 

[ESH]

The first year I remember voting results being released to the public for the Conn Smythe was 2016. Before that, I'm not sure.

I went and googled the results for anyone interested. I'll only list the top-3 each year. Points in brackets

2016
1. Sidney Crosby (63)
2. Phil Kessel (60)
3. Kris Letang (18)

2017
1. Sidney Crosby (67)
2. Evgeni Malkin (49)
3. Jake Guentzel (15)

2018
1. Alex Ovechkin (80)
2. Evgeny Kuznetsov (64)
3. Braden Holtby (16)

2019
1. Ryan O'Reilly (78)
2. Jordan Binnington (46)
3. Tuukka Rask (21)

2020
1. Victor Hedman (70)
2. Brayden Point (66)
3. Nikita Kucherov (25)

2021
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy (82)
2. Nikita Kucherov (60)
3. Brayden Point (16)

 

[Batis]

Here you can find the ballots of each individual voter from the last 4 years.

PHWA Conn Smythe Trophy ballots: Ovechkin’s win – Professional Hockey Writers Association
PHWA Conn Smythe Trophy ballots: O’Reilly’s win – Professional Hockey Writers Association.
PHWA’s 2020 Conn Smythe Ballots: Hedman’s razor thin win – Professional Hockey Writers Association
PHWA’s 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy ballots: Vasilevskiy’s resounding win – Professional Hockey Writers Association

 

[Hawkey Town 18]

A couple notes to add:

We know that Duncan Keith won unanimously in 2015

We know that Tom Barrasso finished a distant 2nd to Lemieux in 1992

 

[Michael Farkas]

1997 Conn Smythe voting anecdote:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-s...ngterm/1998/stanleycup/articles/yzerman17.htm

Yzerman was the leading scorer in the playoffs, with six goals and 18 assists in 22 games. He was the runner-up to teammate Mike Vernon in last season's Conn Smythe balloting, but was clearly the best player in this postseason.

 

[tabness]

You can get a good understand of the voting results if not the precise voting itself just by going through old newspapers.

Some I've recently come across:

1985: Close vote between Gretzky (winner) and Coffey (runner up) with Fuhr getting love too. One source can be read to state that the voting was 47-37, but this is much more likely an ambiguity with the grammatical construction of the phrase with them noting the difference between Gretzky's and Coffey's actual points lol

2002: Split vote between Lidstrom (winner) and Hasek (runner up), Yzerman, Fedorov, Hull.

The 1997 voting results example above also includes a tidbit that the balloting was the closest (to that point) by 2 points.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

2002: Split vote between Lidstrom (winner) and Hasek (runner up), Yzerman, Fedorov, Hull.

I remember that as a close race between Lidstrom and Yzerman (with Hasek, Hull and Fedorov rounding out the top five). Not disagreeing with you, but what source had Hasek 2nd?

 

[JackSlater]

1997 Conn Smythe voting anecdote:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-s...ngterm/1998/stanleycup/articles/yzerman17.htm

I've never heard that before. Never considered that 1997 would have anyone other than Fedorov in second; Yzerman over Fedorov that year would not have been good.

 

[tabness]

2002:

Looking up some other nineties years not mentioned

1990: Ranford was the "runaway winner" and I couldn't find anything else about anyone else besides the fact that a couple Edmonton writers felt Fuhr deserved one as well in 1987. Have to go back before the finals to see other names being mentioned:

1991: Lemieux also "runaway" winner. Can't find much explicitly, but it seems Barrasso would have been runner up to Lemieux. Funny anecdote to remind us not to take these awards votes too seriously lol:

1993: Another "runaway" winner in Roy. Have to go back to the conference finals to see Gilmour mentioned, and of course Gretzky.

1994: Interestingly, before the series, the candidates floated were first McLean and Messier, and then Bure and Richter, and not Leetch.

Before the final game however, the "runaway" candidates were clear:

1995: Brodeur and Stevens seem to be the runners up to Lemieux?

1996: Sakic was said to be a "lock" to win it even before the series was over. It seems Roy would be the runner up?

1998: Yzerman "unanimous" selection as called out by Bettman during awarding it. Couldn't find anything on others. Kolzig and Yzerman were pre finals choices.

1999:

Nieuwendyk seems to have established himself as the frontrunner as Modano and Hull had injuries during the finals. Perhaps Modano and Belfour were the runners up as called out by Hull?

actually it looks like Belfour for sure:

 

[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, it's very interesting, if true...

Fedorov had just two assists in the WCQF vs St. Louis in six games.

Then just eyeballing it, he had about 47 points vs Colorado and Philadelphia in the Conference and Cup Finals, respectively.


Ok fine, 7 vs Col and 6 vs Phi.

WCF game 2 - 3rd period goal to tie it up, leading a 4-2 Detroit comeback win.
WCF game 3 - 3rd period assist on the game winner by Kozlov
WCF game 6 - 3rd period game winning, series winning goal
SCF game 1 - Game winning goal in the 2nd period
SCF game 3 - Game winning goal early in game 3, scoring two minutes after Yzerman had answered Philadelphia's first goal, extinguishing their only lead of the series, also two minutes in length.

So, it's not like he mopped up against St. Louis and Anaheim and everyone forgot...he was dynamite against the two toughest opponents they were gonna face...

 

[NyQuil]

I just ask the ether and @pnep shows up and tells everyone.

 

[The Macho King]

A couple notes to add:

We know that Duncan Keith won unanimously in 2015

We know that Tom Barrasso finished a distant 2nd to Lemieux in 1992

If I recall, I also heard Hedman was either 2nd or 3rd in 2015. No results obviously.

 

[Vujtek]

If I recall, I also heard Hedman was either 2nd or 3rd in 2015. No results obviously.

Hedman was 3rd. Atleast based on the wording here "Keith beat out captain and 2010 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Toews and Lightning defender Victor Hedman."

 

[Vujtek]

1985: Close vote between Gretzky (winner) and Coffey (runner up) with Fuhr getting love too. One source can be read to state that the voting was 47-37, but this is much more likely an ambiguity with the grammatical construction of the phrase with them noting the difference between Gretzky's and Coffey's actual points lol

Kurri got some love as well and based on wording here would be 3rd between Coffey and Fuhr.

Gretzky won the Conn Smythe Trophy, which goes to the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. He beat out teammates Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri and Grant Fuhr for the award.

“Winning the Conn Smythe Trophy is a great thing,” Gretzky said. “From my heart I wish I could put Paul’s (Coffey) name next to mine. It must have been the closest vote in the history of the award.

Oilers Rout Flyers, Get a Matching Set of Stanley Cups, 8-3

 

[vikash1987]

I’ve always wondered about the very first Conn Smythe Trophy winner: Jean Beliveau in 1965. Back then, the votes came not from the PHWA but from the six NHL governors (or from representatives of the governors), and they used a 5-3-1 voting system.

Some hockey writers had Beliveau pegged as a no contest, slam dunk winner before Game 7. But I’ve also seen articles with other names on the Canadiens floated around as secondary candidates: J.C. Tremblay, Henri Richard, Claude Provost, Gump Worsley. (And, of course, had Chicago won, Bobby Hull and Glenn Hall would’ve been at the top of the list.)

I wonder if the NHL statistician/archivist has a record of whether Beliveau’s vote was unanimous.

 

[tabness]

Kurri got some love as well and based on wording here would be 3rd between Coffey and Fuhr.

Oilers Rout Flyers, Get a Matching Set of Stanley Cups, 8-3

Nice find! Kurri definitely deserves more love in general.

I’ve always wondered about the very first Conn Smythe Trophy winner: Jean Beliveau in 1965. Back then, the votes came not from the PHWA but from the six NHL governors (or from representatives of the governors), and they used a 5-3-1 voting system.

Some hockey writers had Beliveau pegged as a no contest, slam dunk winner before Game 7. But I’ve also seen articles with other names on the Canadiens floated around as secondary candidates: J.C. Tremblay, Henri Richard, Claude Provost, Gump Worsley. (And, of course, had Chicago won, Bobby Hull and Glenn Hall would’ve been at the top of the list.)

I wonder if the NHL statistician/archivist has a record of whether Beliveau’s vote was unanimous.

It's actually a bit trickier to determine than we'd wish. Sometimes a writer will just mention other candidates alongside the winner, who may have very well also been in the voting but it isn't certain. I try to look for statements that clearly indicate that someone also got votes, or was edged out, or so on.

Trying to fill out the eighties as well

1989:

Couldn't really find any explicit mentions of voting or runners up to MacInnis, but Vernon definitely seems to be the runner up given the media attention leading up to the result, he gets a lot of praise from both Calgary and Montreal media. Mullen and Otto were also got a bit of mention after the fact. One Calgary writer in an article before the last game (who passionately makes his case for Vernon over MacInnis) chimes in with something I definitely am with:

1988:

It was "no surprise" that Gretzky won it. Runners up seem to be Fuhr and Messier. Both Messier and Fuhr seemed to have much more media sentiment entering the finals though.

1987:

Again, very tough to get anything concrete on voting. A bunch of names were called out as deserving, Gretzky, Fuhr, Messier, Kurri from the Oilers, and even Tocchett and Propp on the Flyers got a mention, but it seemed that Hextall was the frontrunner during the finals, and there was even an article on if his slash on Nilsson would be held against him in the media voting before game 7. There was of course, one direct voting tidbit that I found lol (didn't mention the first two):

1986:

A good year for Conn Smythe talk and info being available. Lemieux was second in the voting. Roy in 1986 has this reputation of being such an obvious win, but at least at the time, it seemed to be closer. It seems that while Roy and Vernon were the slight frontrunners during the finals, the sentiment was "no one has a lock on the Conn Smythe" as a Montreal Gazette headline read after game 4. Carbonneau, Green, Naslund, McPhee mentioned for the Canadiens and Risebrough, McDonald, Mullen, Reinhart, and MacInnis for the Flames.

1984:

Unfortunately, couldn't find anything specific on the voting or runners up. Before game 5, Fuhr and Lowe were named alongside Messier, Fuhr being called the early favorite but of course got hurt in the finals. I know this is also one of those years that most of what people see are stats and wonder why Gretzky didn't win, but he doesn't seem to register much in the candidate sentiment. Then again, you can clearly find the typical "not a winner" sentiment against Gretzky at this period of time.

Will get to the Islanders dynasty and the early 2000s another time!

 

[Staniowski]

Vernon was 2nd in voting in 1989 (I read it in an article recently)....there was a lot of talk in the finals that he might win it. MacInnis was the correct choice, though.

Imagine Mike Vernon with 3 Conn Smythes....it could have happened quite easily.

Yeah, almost everybody, now, talks about Roy being an overwhelming Conn Smythe winner in 1986, but that's not actually what happened. I would have voted Carbonneau, he was really their best player...Lemieux and Roy also were very good, along with McPhee and a few others.

 

[Staniowski]

Interesting to read about the possibility of Kevin Lowe in 1984....I don't remember anybody talking about him at the time....and I'm surprised if Gretzky wasn't discussed. That doesn't seem possible.

What I remember is most people thinking Messier deserved to win. He was excellent throughout the playoffs.

 

[Staniowski]

For '89, besides MacInnis and Vernon, Mullen Gilmour and Otto were the others discussed at the time.

 

[tabness]

Interesting to read about the possibility of Kevin Lowe in 1984....I don't remember anybody talking about him at the time....and I'm surprised if Gretzky wasn't discussed. That doesn't seem possible.

What I remember is most people thinking Messier deserved to win. He was excellent throughout the playoffs.

Kevin Lowe definitely got love in the form of votes. From a Jim Matheson article (his/him referring to Messier):

 

[Staniowski]

Kevin Lowe definitely got love in the form of votes. From a Jim Matheson article (his/him referring to Messier):

View attachment 502744

So, that's 2 voters....one of them voted Lowe 1st, and the other voted him 3rd.

That's interesting.

 

[tabness]

Islanders dynasty

1980:

Almost nothing on anyone but Trottier who of course set a new points record in the four round playoff era. The only thing I could find was Tim Burke's column in the Montreal Gazette saying Don Cherry would have picked Nystrom (Burke said he would have picked Smith).

1981:

Not much explicit on the runners up. Goring also won Sport Magazine MVP Trophy (for outstanding player in the finals). The North Stars are said to have thought Goring deserving. Goring himself mentioned Trottier, Bossy, and Potvin.

1982:

Good year for Conn Smythe talk but unfortunately nothing clear on the voting in the end. Bossy seemed to be a clear pick. Depending on who was asked, Smith or Trottier were the other candidates by the end. Tonelli also got some mention. Bossy also mentioned Bob Bourne on top of the other two as deserving. Before the start of the finals, the Islanders had many candidates mentioned, whereas the Canucks had Richard Brodeur basically.

1983:

Bob Bourne runner up to Smith. Other candidates floated around (got votes maybe? article was post-Smythe win) were Brent and Duane Sutter and Trottier.