2023 Conn Smythe Trophy power rankings: Playoff MVP candidates through two rounds

Credit: © Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

With just four teams left in the field, we’ve reached the high-stakes portion of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers now realize they have truly legitimate chances at a championship.

Which key players have made this unlikely final four possible? At the official halfway point of the postseason, let’s break down the top contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP.

1. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers

While his teammate Matthew Tkachuk earned the ‘unstoppable’ billing after Game 1 of the Toronto series, it was Bobrovsky whom the Maple Leafs repeatedly singled out as the problem they could not solve. He held them to two goals or fewer in all five games, compiling a .943 save percentage in the series. Since his series-saving overtime win against the Boston Bruins in Round 1, ‘Bob’ is 7-1 with a .928 SV% in his past eight games.

2. Roope Hintz, Dallas Stars

Hintz’s unique blend of size, skill and speed in transition have made him incredibly difficult for opponents to stop through the first two rounds. His 19 points this postseason are second only to Connor McDavid’s 20, so Hintz should soon eclipse him for the league scoring lead. No one else still competing in the playoffs is within three points of him. When Hintz takes over a game, the Stars are tough to defeat; he has five multi-point games this postseason, and all came in victories.

3. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Tkachuk was dominant in the first round. He didn’t score a goal in the second round, but he still played a major role in setting up teammates, creating traffic in front of goaltenders Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll and hammering the Leafs on the forecheck alongside linemates Sam Bennett and Nick Cousins. Tkachuk holds a 60 percent on-ice expected goal share so far in the playoffs at 5-on-5, and the actual goal margin is even more impressive, as Florida has outscored its opponents 12-3 with Tkachuk out there at 5-on-5.

4. Jack Eichel, Vegas Golden Knights

When Eichel was getting his revolutionary disk replacement surgery, who would’ve projected him to be a Conn Smythe Trophy contender a year and a half later in his first postseason? Eichel really has been a difference maker. He had seven points in the final four games of the Edmonton series, three of which Vegas won, and he leads the team with 14 points in 11 games.

5. Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars

The Conn Smythe Trophy has often been kind to the workhorse defenseman archetype. While a blueliner hasn’t won the Hart Trophy as regular season MVP in 23 years, the Conn Smythe somewhat regularly goes to a blueliner, from Cale Makar last season to Victor Hedman in 2020 to Duncan Keith in 2015. Will Heiskanen be the next to win it? His 28:15 of average ice time paces the playoffs, and the next-busiest player left in the field is Brandon Montour at 25:56. Despite regularly battling the opposition’s top players, Heiskanen has walked away with a positive expected goal share at 5-on-5 while compiling a respectable nine points in 13 games.

6. & 7. Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns, Carolina Hurricanes

No Canes in the top five? Think of it as a compliment. They’re gotten such a balanced team effort that it’s difficult to single out one MVP. That even applies within their top pair of Slavin and Burns. Who has been more important? Burns has been a play driving monster who has also brought the offense with eight points in 11 games. Slavin has been instrumental in helping Carolina kill an incredible 90 percent of penalties so far in the playoffs. As a tandem at 5-on-5: fuggedaboutit. They’ve been on the ice together for just three goals while the Canes have scored 13. Utter dominance. Each player has arguably given an effort worthy of top-four Conn Smythe consideration, but they cannibalize each other a bit. To date myself with a 1969 movie reference: it’s like when Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight had to go up against each other for the Best Actor Oscar for Midnight Cowboy and somehow both lost to John Wayne.

8. Joe Pavelski, Dallas Stars

If we could award the Conn Smythe based on a single series: Pavelski would run away with it. He buried an astonishing eight goals in seven games versus the Seattle Kraken, including four goals in Game 1 after missing the last five games of Round 1 against the Minnesota Wild with a concussion. Given Pavelski only played 10 minutes and eight seconds in the first round, his overall impact is lesser than those of the names above, but if he lights it up again in Round 3, he’ll rocket up the rankings. (For anyone wondering: the record for goals in a playoff series belongs to Jari Kurri, who had 12 for Edmonton in the 1985 playoffs against Chicago.)

9. Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights

It feels like we’ll question forever whether Stone’s back is 100 percent, but his effort certainly has been 100 percent. The two-way maven managed to break even against McDavid in Round 2, keeping the score 2-2 when both were on the ice at 5-on-5, with a 0-3 margin against Leon Draisaitl. Honestly, those numbers qualify as a win for Stone in hockey’s toughest assignment. He also sits fourth among all 2023 playoff participants in takeaways per 60 at 5-on-5 and has scored at better than a point-per-game pace to boot. That’s a complete hockey player.

10. Jordan Martinook, Carolina Hurricanes

While Sebastian Aho popped in Round 2 as well, I break the tie for the 10^th spot with Martinook because he’s given his team such an unexpected lift. He had as many multi-point efforts in Games 1 to 4 against the New Jersey Devils as he had across 82 regular-season games. Getting surprise performances from role players like him has helped the Canes overcome a litany of injuries to their star forwards.

IN THE HUNT

Jonathan Marchessault, Golden Knights
Frederik Andersen, Hurricanes
Carter Verhaeghe, Panthers
William Karlsson, Golden Knights
Sam Bennett, Panthers
Sam Reinhart, Panthers
Adin Hill, Golden Knights
Sebastian Aho, Hurricanes
Chandler Stephenson, Golden Knights
Jake Oettinger, Stars

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