{"id":684676,"date":"2026-05-21T18:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/684676\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:29:14","slug":"2026-nhl-conn-smythe-trophy-rankings-will-time-off-affect-hurricanes-frederik-andersen-logan-stankoven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/684676\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Conn Smythe Trophy rankings: Will time off affect Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen, Logan Stankoven?"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026 NHL Conn Smythe Trophy rankings: Will time off affect Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen, Logan Stankoven?<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Western Conference final underway and the puck about to drop on the Eastern Conference final, the Conn Smythe Trophy battle is beginning to crystallize.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s still a long way to go, though, and at least a dozen players can be considered solid contenders to win playoff MVP.<\/p>\n

With Cale Makar<\/a>\u2019s health up in the air, I feel pretty confident in saying we\u2019re going to see a first-time winner. Makar is the only remaining player with a Conn Smythe adorning his trophy cabinet.<\/p>\n

Here are my best picks to win the coveted honor.<\/p>\n

In stymying the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> and propelling the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> to the Eastern Conference final, Jakub Dobe\u0161 became only the second rookie goaltender to win multiple Game 7s on the road in the same playoff.<\/p>\n

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The other was Canadiens\u2019 legend Ken Dryden, who pulled off the feat en route to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1971.<\/p>\n

Dobe\u0161 was instrumental in both upsets, finishing Game 7 against the Sabres with 2.39 goals saved above expected, even better than the 1.42 he amassed in Tampa Bay against the Lightning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If he pulls off what would constitute a remarkable upset against the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, Dobe\u0161 would likely be in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0NHL Playoff Predictions 2026: Will the Hurricanes’ rest or the Canadiens’ resilience prevail?<\/a><\/p>\n

A coin flip would be just as effective at choosing between Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall<\/a> as the Carolina Hurricanes get set to resume their playoff run, finally.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve landed on Stankoven because of his ability to pop and score at opportune moments.<\/p>\n

With seven goals in eight games, he is on pace to score the most goals in the playoffs despite playing considerably fewer games.<\/p>\n

I just hope he has enough smelling salts to reawaken after the longest layoff between series in NHL history.<\/p>\n

In Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>, Mitch Marner resumed where he left off against the Anaheim Ducks<\/a>, notching a sublime assist on the power play to put the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> up by two goals.<\/p>\n

He has at least one point in 10 of 13 games, scoring 10 in the previous five.<\/p>\n

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Not only does Marner lead the playoffs in scoring with 19 points (7 goals, 12 assists), but he also heavily influences proceedings in all situations, including spearheading the second-best penalty kill of the remaining teams.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0NHL Conn Smythe Trophy rankings: Can Golden Knights’ Mitch Marner flip the playoff narrative?<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sitting on pins and needles to see how Frederik Andersen reacts to having more time off than a family on an all-inclusive vacation. It will be fascinating to see whether the Dane picks up where he left off.<\/p>\n

If he does, the Canadiens are in trouble. While Andersen has an expected goals against average of 2.37, he boasts an actual GAA of 1.12. He has allowed two third-period goals in eight games and has only trailed twice.<\/p>\n

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The 36-year-old conceded just two goals with the opposition on the power play, and he\u2019s battle-tested, playing in his third conference final. He has, however, never advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0NHL Playoff Predictions 2026: Will the Avalanche or Golden Knights represent the West?<\/a><\/p>\n

While Nathan MacKinnon\u2019s goal streak ended at six games, he extended his points streak to seven, thanks to an assist on Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>\u2019s late third-period Game 1 goal.<\/p>\n

Despite a spirited outing that featured nine attempted shots, MacKinnon struggled to find much open ice against the Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

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MacKinnon has 14 points in 10 games, and I expect him to be the difference-maker at home in Game 2.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s failed to register a point just twice in the post-season, occurring in Games 2 and 3 against the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>. MacKinnon\u2019s 1.4 points per game align closely with his career post-season clip of 1.3.<\/p>\n

And I still think the best is yet to come from the Avs\u2019 assistant captain.<\/p>\n

More NHL News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 NHL Conn Smythe Trophy rankings: Will time off affect Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen, Logan Stankoven? originally appeared on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[766,741,49,45339,48,748,758,251039,251038,231239,243323,82354,147702,37777,69419,20148,158919,763,8436,743,48001,448,82,226994],"class_list":["post-684676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-ca","tag-cale-makar","tag-canada","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-conn-smythe","tag-conn-smythe-trophy","tag-eastern-conference-final","tag-frederik-andersen","tag-gabriel-landeskog","tag-golden-knights","tag-jakub-dobes","tag-ken-dryden","tag-lightning","tag-logan-stankoven","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-mitch-marner","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-taylor-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}