Who are contenders in the Stanley Cup Final? – Sportsnet.ca

The formula for determining a Conn Smythe Trophy winner has always unofficially been based 50 per cent on what you do in the first three rounds and 50 per cent on what happens in the Stanley Cup Final.

So bring on the showcase showdown.

Considering how much MVP weight will be placed on this final series between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, this is still a wide-open race. The entrenched frontrunners could easily be overtaken by someone on the fringe right now if a member of the latter group goes off in the next two weeks.

The Panthers, in particular, have a number of skaters who could still vault up ballots in a meaningful way with a huge June.

So without further delay — because, let’s face it, our patience is already being put to the test waiting until Saturday for Game 1 of this awesome matchup — let’s run down the top Conn Smythe candidates with a major portion of the test still to come.

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

There have been 33 occasions in which a player has recorded 31 points in a post-season and McDavid now has two of them. He leads the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with that total right now and with nine more points, he can join Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only guys ever to record 40 points in a single spring.

McDavid’s goal to open the scoring against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night in a Game 6 win that clinched the Western Conference Final was out of this world. If Edmonton wins its first Cup in 34 years and he keeps doing this in the final, there will no longer be any kind of caveat in the conversation about him being one of the top 5 — maybe top 3 — players in NHL history.

Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers

The Panthers captain wasn’t as productive in the Eastern Conference Final versus the New York Rangers as he’d been in the previous two rounds, but he remains Florida’s two-way heartbeat.

If there is still any small corner of the world that talks about the big Finn as an underrated player, it should be vanquished forever after he goes head-to-head with a generational centre skating for a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup Final.

Especially if he winds up hosting the big silver mug.

Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers

Just like McDavid, Bouchard is poised to join the highest tier of playoff performers at his position.

First off, Bouchard’s 27 points are nearly double the amount of the second-highest scoring defenceman in these playoffs, Miro Heiskanen (16) of Dallas.

With three more points, Bouchard will join Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch and Paul Coffey as the only guys to ever produce 30 points in a spring from the back end. With 11 points — and don’t count it out — Bouchard can finish the playoffs with the best-ever offensive showing by a defenceman with 38, one ahead of Coffey’s 37.

Also, the 24-year-old has seven points in Edmonton’s three close-out games this post-season.

Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers

Draisaitl was the Conn Smythe clubhouse leader after two rounds, but he’s been jumped by McDavid after the conference finals. Still, this guy is just three points off the scoring lead with 28 and after establishing himself as one of the best post-season performers in the league today, he’s finally getting a chance to show his stuff on the biggest stage.

Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers

After three contests in the ECF, the Panthers trailed the Rangers 2-1 and the idea of Blueshirts goalie Igor Shesterkin just stonewalling Florida out of the playoffs was becoming a real thing.

That obviously didn’t sit well with Bobrovsky.

The 35-year-old veteran stepped up and equaled anything his Russian countryman was doing in the Rangers crease over the final three games, posting a .932 save percentage in that hat trick of Panthers victories.

He’s shown a great ability to regain his form after a shaky outing and with a week off between Game 6 versus New York and Game 1 against Edmonton — to say nothing of some two-day breaks between outings in the final — Bobrovsky will also get the rest required for him to be at his peak in the next two weeks.

Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers

Hyman has 14 goals this spring, which would lead the playoffs or tie for the lead in 24 of the past 26 post-seasons.

And did we mention he has yet to take a shift in the SCF?

Hyman needs six goals to set the all-time mark with 20 playoff tallies, so if this thing goes seven, Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri (19 apiece) could actually be on notice.

Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Tkachuk has been relatively quiet with just one goal in his past 11 outings. But he’s still leading Florida in scoring with 19 points and you just know the former Calgary Flame is going to bring all that Battle of Alberta history into this series and plant himself in the middle of the frame.

Gustav Forsling, Florida Panthers

The Swede is surely playing the best hockey of his super-steady career, earning plaudits from observers who may not have known what a superb two-way blue-liner he is.

If Forsling can continue to pitch in on offence — he’s got 11 points in 17 games — and put together strong head-to-head on-ice numbers versus McDavid, there might yet be a path to him being identified as Florida’s most valuable player.

Carter Verhaeghe, Florida Panthers

This is a bet on his big-moment gene. Verhaeghe leads the Panthers with nine goals this spring and one of those was his fifth career playoff overtime tally. Only Maurice Richard (six) and Joe Sakic (eight) have more post-season extra-time winners in NHL history.

If the winger can have a big series — complete with, say, one more OT winner — he could absolutely get in the Conn Smythe conversation.

Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers

Connor McDavid’s old youth hockey linemate with the York-Simcoe Express has become the go-to example of a guy you need on your side to excel in the playoffs.

Opposing fanbases will always despise him — and it will be extra easy for Edmonton fans to tap into anger given his Flames heritage — but Bennett does more than shift disturb out there, with six goals in only a dozen outings this spring, including one in each of the three straight wins Florida used to close out the ECF.

Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers

It would take a monster showing in the final, but the 57-goal man is playing more than every Panthers forward per game (21:53, just ahead of Barkov’s 21:46) so if he goes off for a half-dozen goals against Edmonton, he could yet get strong MVP consideration.