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

Michael Farkas

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Historically, it's a few local guys on each side and then the rest is "national coverage" guys. I'm not sure if there's a specific formula to it or whatever...but it's been this way for quite a while. "International" influence is good, provided that they are and have been covering the NHL game...which I don't doubt, per the above post.
 

Yozhik v tumane

Registered User
Jan 2, 2019
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I don't know what the rules are but there are plenty of Swedes in the league and Per Bjurman has lived in New York and covered the NHL for the Swedish audience for almost twenty years as a news paper journalist.

He's an entertaining writer (originally reviewed music back in the 90's when that was the shit) but I wouldn't say he's particularly knowledgeable about hockey, very mainstream in his views from what I've seen.

Agreed on all points. I used to occasionally follow his live blog/commentary or whatever covering the NHL playoffs a few years back. Per my recollections, he’d quite often mention North American hockey media buddies and their takes on things. He seemed to nurture quite the familiar atmosphere with the regulars in the comment section and he’s pretty entertaining to read but — as you implied — is fairly mainstream in his takes and tends to hook onto the popular narratives from North American media.
 

Michael Farkas

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1965 Conn Smythe

The Hockey News - May 1 said:
"I think [Glenn] Hall should have won that award" said [Chicago Black Hawks coach Billy Reay].

Hall and Hawks' Bobby Hull were the Chicago players in the running for the award, which also carried a $1,000 cash bonus to the winner. Beliveau and J.C. Tremblay were the pick of the Montrealers and the six NHL governors, who selected the winner in a vote after the final game of the series, had to make up their minds between the four.
 

WingsFan95

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Mar 22, 2008
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Kanata
Just the notion Gretzky could have lost another Smythe is pretty insane. The Hextall one is the only sensible one.

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)
To me the bolded will always make more sense though not as a steal type situation I just think in both cases there is a not so tiny margin where I think they deserved it more.
 

tabness

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That Matheson fella couldn’t risk seeing playoff MVP being awarded to a player from the cup winning team.

Matheson is the long time Oilers sportswriter, I love the homerism to be honest by the way, it's at least honest and refreshing rather than faux neutrality lol (also you know he thought the Oilers were coming back and winning when he voted lol)

Also he's the guy who got into a tiff with Draisaitl, so not surprising he was left off lol (Drai sucked in the finals and was injured but still as a body of work, Hyman over him doesn't make too much sense without that history)
 

Yozhik v tumane

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Jan 2, 2019
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Matheson is the long time Oilers sportswriter, I love the homerism to be honest by the way, it's at least honest and refreshing rather than faux neutrality lol (also you know he thought the Oilers were coming back and winning when he voted lol)

Also he's the guy who got into a tiff with Draisaitl, so not surprising he was left off lol (Drai sucked in the finals and was injured but still as a body of work, Hyman over him doesn't make too much sense without that history)

I absolutely agree with you that I appreciate the homer take in that context, or at least that there was some flavor added by it. Also didn’t really consider when and how the voting is conducted: is it during the second intermission for a game 7? Not sure how I would have voted, I think McDavid was very deserving win or lose but I would have understood the argument for a couple of Panthers, more so given that McDavid was shut out for the last two games, in an eventual losing effort…
 

tabness

will play for 4 million 🇵🇸
Apr 4, 2014
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I absolutely agree with you that I appreciate the homer take in that context, or at least that there was some flavor added by it. Also didn’t really consider when and how the voting is conducted: is it during the second intermission for a game 7? Not sure how I would have voted, I think McDavid was very deserving win or lose but I would have understood the argument for a couple of Panthers, more so given that McDavid was shut out for the last two games, in an eventual losing effort…

It used to be during the second intermission yes, I've heard recently that some votes are in by the midway point of the third though?

This situation along with the awkward presentation this year highlights the need to change this process lol
 

JackSlater

Registered User
Apr 27, 2010
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Jim Matheson betting big on the Oilers comeback. Ryan Clark waking up from his coma that started after game 3 just in time to vote. Barkov was a solid second choice but number one was clear.
 

vikash1987

Registered User
Mar 7, 2004
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New York
Wow, Bobrovsky didn't factor in at all as a Top 3 choice for 14 of the 17 PHWA voters. That seems like an overreaction, in my honest opinion. He was certainly MVP-caliber for most of the playoffs. What a difference a week makes, I guess.

Glad to see Barkov getting the recognition he deserved with all those runner-up votes.
 
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MadLuke

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Jan 18, 2011
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the need to change this process lol
There is something to the Stanley Cup is the very last trophy that close the season and because you want to give it quite fast, you need to give the Smythe really really fast.

In between the second and third period vote with some conditional possible (who win, who score and so on) seem to be as good as it get without breaking the rule 1.
 
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tabness

will play for 4 million 🇵🇸
Apr 4, 2014
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There is something to the Stanley Cup is the very last trophy that close the season and because you want to give it quite fast, you need to give the Smythe really really fast.

In between the second and third period vote with some conditional possible (who win, who score and so on) seem to be as good as it get without breaking the rule 1.

In pre smartphone/internet days I agree, it was the best system, but I feel like especially with the smaller voter pool for this trophy, you can literally have the media guys send in the votes as the game ends nowadays on their phones, maybe create an app that gathers the votes and does the tabulation instantly.

here is a program from chatgpt for the nhl to use going forward (dont worry Bettman it's open source i know you guys cant get amex or visa or mastercard as sponsors no need to pay me)

Code:
import UIKit

class ViewController: UIViewController, UIPickerViewDataSource, UIPickerViewDelegate {

    let players = ["Player A", "Player B", "Player C", "Player D", "Player E"] // Replace with actual player names
    let places = ["First Place", "Second Place", "Third Place"]

    @IBOutlet weak var firstPlacePicker: UIPickerView!
    @IBOutlet weak var secondPlacePicker: UIPickerView!
    @IBOutlet weak var thirdPlacePicker: UIPickerView!
  
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        firstPlacePicker.dataSource = self
        firstPlacePicker.delegate = self
        secondPlacePicker.dataSource = self
        secondPlacePicker.delegate = self
        thirdPlacePicker.dataSource = self
        thirdPlacePicker.delegate = self
    }

    @IBAction func submitVotes(_ sender: UIButton) {
        let firstPlacePlayer = players[firstPlacePicker.selectedRow(inComponent: 0)]
        let secondPlacePlayer = players[secondPlacePicker.selectedRow(inComponent: 0)]
        let thirdPlacePlayer = players[thirdPlacePicker.selectedRow(inComponent: 0)]

        print("First Place: \(firstPlacePlayer)")
        print("Second Place: \(secondPlacePlayer)")
        print("Third Place: \(thirdPlacePlayer)")

        // Optionally, show an alert or message confirming the submission
        let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Votes Submitted", message: "Thank you for your votes!", preferredStyle: .alert)
        alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OK", style: .default, handler: nil))
        present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)
    }

    func numberOfComponents(in pickerView: UIPickerView) -> Int {
        return 1
    }

    func pickerView(_ pickerView: UIPickerView, numberOfRowsInComponent component: Int) -> Int {
        return players.count
    }

    func pickerView(_ pickerView: UIPickerView, titleForRow row: Int, forComponent component: Int) -> String? {
        return players[row]
    }
}
 
Last edited:

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Wow, yeah, it is surprising not to see Bobrovsky rank higher on those lists. I sort of assumed that if McDavid won it, Bobrovsky would be second.

But it just goes to show how hockey punishes goalies for one or two bad games in a way it doesn't punish skaters. A forward can have 12 great games and 8 forgettable ones, and everyone remembers him as being great. A goalie can have 18 good-to-great games and 2 bad ones, and everyone will rememeber the bad ones forever.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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Tokyo, Japan
18 good to great games? That didn't happen...at all.

Goalies win it about 30% of the time, right? Seems like they're more likely to get it by "default" when there isn't an obvious better choice. Like a quarterback in the NFL in their silly one-game "MVP" nonsense factory...
Yeah, I wasn't talking about Bobrovsky. I said "a goalie" (as in any goalie). A hypothetical example.
 

Michael Farkas

Celebrate 68
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Yeah, I wasn't talking about Bobrovsky. I said "a goalie" (as in any goalie). A hypothetical example.
Wow, yeah, it is surprising not to see Bobrovsky rank higher on those lists. I sort of assumed that if McDavid won it, Bobrovsky would be second.

But it just goes to show how hockey punishes goalies for one or two bad games in a way it doesn't punish skaters.
So...it does NOT go to show us that goalies are punished for "one or two bad games"...? :squint:

Like, famously, with Giguere in '03 when he doubled his GA in the Final and won it anyway. Or like Thomas (who falls into the "win by default" category) who gave up 4+ several times and was diving out of the net for no reason in the SCF to lose OT games, etc. - but won anyway.

Goalie failures are more graphic at times, sure. But I'm not sure about the thesis...
 

The Panther

Registered User
Mar 25, 2014
19,448
16,198
Tokyo, Japan
My point is simply that goaltenders' mistakes (esp. in big moments) are focused on and talked about and replayed endlessly, whereas skaters' mistakes are not (or are much less so).
 

Professor What

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Sep 16, 2020
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My point is simply that goaltenders' mistakes (esp. in big moments) are focused on and talked about and replayed endlessly, whereas skaters' mistakes are not (or are much less so).
Well, highlights focus mostly on goals, and a mistake by a goalie is quite frequently a goal. A mistake by a skater certainly can mean a goal, but it's not nearly as certain. The goalie can often bail that out, but then that's not going to get attention unless it's a Hasek slinky-for-a-spine type of save.
 

bobholly39

Registered User
Mar 10, 2013
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The voting was about what I expected. Near unanimous for McDavid, who definitely deserved to win.

I'm actually surprised by the near unanimous vote.

I think he definitely deserved to win and figured he would, but I thought there would be at least a handful of "winner has to come from winning team" votes.
 

Professor What

Registered User
Sep 16, 2020
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I'm actually surprised by the near unanimous vote.

I think he definitely deserved to win and figured he would, but I thought there would be at least a handful of "winner has to come from winning team" votes.
The voting deadline might have had something to do with it too though. It was just a one-goal game when the votes were due.
 

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