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Greg Wyshynski
With a round in the books and eight teams postponed home, the game for the playoffs of the Stanley Cup MVP is starting to concentrate.
This attention is currently on a player who has established a handful of records with his heroism of Game 7.
Here is the first CONN SMYTHE WATCH OF THE POST -ASSIGNMENT OF 2025. Keep in mind that in the NHL, the Conn Smythe is based on the performance of a player during the entire post -stament season, not only on the championship round. The prize is voted by a jury of 18 people of Professional Hockey Writers Association members.
We have interrogated more than a dozen writers who are still in rhythm in the playoffs for the first three of Conn Smythe Trophy.
Here are some of the current leaders for the MVP honors, as well as the players on the Cuspid to break through in the Conn Smythe match.
The current MVP
The “revenge tour” against his former team on Colorado Avalanche Spectacularly wrapped with 11 points in the last three games of the series (five goals, six assists). This included his hat-trick of the third period-together with an assist Wyatt JohnstonGame game goals with less than four minutes remaining in the regulation-Nello victory of the Stars game 7.
Ranango is the first player in the history of the NHL to record four points in consecutive games in the regular season or in the playoffs. He is the first player to score a hat -trick of the third period in a game 7. He is also the first player with at least 10 points in the matches from 5 to 7 in a series. Overall, Randanen has 12 points in seven games.
GM Jim Nill has delivered an eight -year contract to Ranango and $ 96 million after acquiring him from Carolina Hurricanes For his domain of the regular season (705 points in 652 career matches) and his reputation as a playoff performer of the clutch, since he now has 113 points in 88 post-heading in his career.
Randanen was first classified at all votes except one that we collected from our voters. It is easily the favorite for the MVP playoffs at this point, and rightly.
The other favorites
There is a palpable gap between Rantanen and the Connors in the MVP match of the playoffs, but both Kyle Connor and Connor McDavid are building strong cases.
The Jets wing had 12 points in seven games against the St. Louis BluesOvercoming the goalkeeper problems of his team-I do not carefully describe a winner of the double Vezina Trophy which is brought to three games on the road-winnipeg road-meter to a victory in the first round.
Connor was fantastic in game 7: he created Cole perfectThey are two goals and then collect a secondary assist Adam LowryWinner of the Double Overtime. Intensified in the absence of lines and second leader marker Mark Schefele And he helped Winnipeg to advance beyond the first round for the first time in three Postasoni.
It is still surreal to think of McDavid as the winner of Conn Smythe, having been appointed MVP playoffs after the loss of seven games of Edmonton in the Stanley Cup final in Florida. If they are the playoffs, McDavid is scoring them. Edmonton’s star has 110 points in 63 playoff games in the last five seasons, improving teammate Leon Draisaitl of 14 points.
McDavid led the Oilers with 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in the victory of the opening lap against the Kings of Los Angeles. This time he had to be different for the kings, who had lost with Edmonton in the first round for three consecutive seasons. It was different from one point of view: rather than the 2.00 points for McDavid game separated in the three previous victories of the series against Los Angeles, only 1.83 points per game against the Kings in this six -games victory in this match.
Our voters had McDavid slightly in front of Connor for their votes, but they are the second and third choice behind Rananen at this point of the post -station.
Making their cases
More voters expressed surprise that they were listing a member of the leafs as one of the most precious players of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but here we are. Toronto passed Ottawa in the first round and won the game 1 against the Florida Panthers Thanks largely to Nylander’s offensive performances.
It is the member of the Core Four who had the greatest impact in the playoffs, with 20 goals in 36 games since 2020-21. Are seven more than Auston Matthews he scored in that time of time.
Nylander had points in every game for the leafs this post -station for one: Linus UllmarkShutout of the game 5 for Ottawa. But Willy Styles came back by roaring in the game 6 with two goals and an assist in the elimination of Game 6 of Toronto dei Senatori. He has three goals and two assists in the victories of game 1 of Leafs in each round. It was a peacesetter and closer.
Thompson is the only goalkeeper who made one of our votes, getting love from a handful of voters. The goalkeeper Capitals had a percentage of savings of .923 and an average of 2.23 goals in five games against the Canadiens. The fact that he played five games against the Habs was surprising, since he was helped by the ice in the loss of Washington game 3 against Montreal. But Thompson has returned to the victories of the capital in games 4 and 5, giving up only three goals in 47 shots.
These were the only other players who were mentioned in the cards of our voters. But there are others that could easily make the way in the conversation while the post -stalization continues.
On the cusp
The Oilers somehow eliminated the kings in the game 6 without a single point from Draisaitl, but the star of Edmonton made his presence in the game 1 against Las Vegas with an assist and the gambling goal, his quarter of the post-installation. Draisaitl is linked for the second more points in the post-installation (12) after seven games.
Bouchard still drags St. Louis eliminated since then Cam Fowler of one point for the most of a defender in the post -station. But the “bombs Bouch” will continue for the near future given the success of the Oilers, since Bouchard has nine points (four goals, five assists) in seven games.
The dynamic duo of the Golden Knights. Stone Guida Las Vegas with four goals, but both players have six points.
They did not have the best start against St. Louis, but hit the scoreboard in four consecutive games, including two goals from Stone in the match 1 against Edmonton.
Randanen deservedly grabbed the titles, but does not sleep on Johnston’s contributions to the stars. His Power-Play goal gave Dallas an advantage of 3-2 in the 7 game with less than four minutes remaining against the avalanche. It has seven points in seven games.
Oettinger has retained the fort in the last moments of Game 7 and has so far published strong numbers in the post-stage, with a percentage of savings of 0.911 and an average of 2.85 goals.
Marner is right behind Nylander with nine points in seven games, with eight assists. He has five team points on the power game. How much is a Conn Smythe trophy in a contractual year?
Bennett leads the panthers with four goals in six games. As the Maple Leafs have learned, it often has an impact on the report, sometimes in order to change the game.
Andersen is playing behind a great defensive team with a first place that leaves him only enough in the other area. But when the opponents had the possibility against him, the veteran goalkeeper was a brick wall: he has a percentage of savings of .935 and an average of 1.45 goals, against the average of this post season.
Slavin won the game 1 of the second round of the hurricanes against the capital with an extraordinary goal. His other goal in the post-installation was a spiritual Crower in the 5-2 victory of Carolina’s game 4 over New Jersey. But the score is never the story with Slavin: it is his minutes (24:28 to guide the hurricanes) and his defense, including the pivot of their killing of dominant penalty. In addition, there is a lot of good will of the voters built for Slavin from his 4 nations in front of performance.
Strome leads the capitals with nine points and was one of the best markers in the first round. Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe in 2018 when the The capital won the Stanley Cup. He had four goals and an assist in the victory of the five -games series on Montreal Canadiens. They will need multiple games of the genre in a series of tight controls against hurricanes.
If Ovechkin brings caps to the playoffs, voters could resist the possibility of limiting his NHL record season With another MVP Playoff prize?