View from the Cheap Seats – Conn Smythe Favorites

Welcome to “The View from the Cheap Seats.” We had some technical difficulties this morning, so this post will appear under Frank’s tags, but I’m Myles Robinson, and I’ll be your regular Monday morning contributor here at Too Many Men on the Site. In the coming weeks, months, etc, we’ll probably cover just about anything and everything to do with the NHL from the mundane to the inspiring, and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, by all means, let me know.

Since the Stanley Cup will be in house at the Wachovia Center on Wednesday, with the distinct possibility that both it and the accompanying Conn Smythe Trophy could be handed out that night, I think it’s appropriate timing to take a look at who the Conn Smythe will be awarded to, or at least, who may have a shot at hoisting the hardware. Both teams have gotten superb individual efforts from a wide variety of performers on their journey to the Finals, but there are a couple of players that have stood a cut above the rest.

Chris Pronger: Pronger was the Flyers’ headline acquisition last offseason, and he’s made GM Paul Holmgren look like a genius. Pronger seems to win everywhere he plays, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down just yet. He leads all skaters with over 29 minutes ice time per game averaged in the postseason, yet he is also tied for 3rd with a +9 rating. He had some big goals early in the playoffs, and has chipped in 13 assists as well, but his biggest contributions are in his own end. He’s the first person to successfully contain big Dustin Byfuglien in quite awhile, and the fact that this series is 2-2 has a lot to do with that fact.

Jonathan Toews: My pick, and probably the leading candidate for playoff MVP is the Blackhawks’young captain. Toews has been tremendous all year, and leads all playoff scorers with 27 points. Five of his seven goals have come on the powerplay, but his scoring isn’t his only value. He has the most faceoff wins of any centerman in the playoffs, having won 247 and posting a ridiculous 60% success rate. He scores, he passes with the best of them, he wins faceoffs by the handful and he hustles defensively. He is one of the great young captains in the game today, and if the Hawks end up on top, I think Toews has an excellent chance of being named the MVP.

Mike Richards: Like Toews, Richards is one of the best young captains around, and he truly is the complete package. He’s 2nd in faceoffs won, and is tied for 3rd in playoff scoring with Pat Kane, who also has 23 points. Despite his young age, Richards has clearly been able to assert himself in the locker room, and the evidence is the type of game the Flyers have played when they’ve been successful. Like Richards, Philly is at their best when they are flying around the ice, banging bodies and creating offense out of their physical play. Richards isn’t afraid to give up his own body in exchange to make a play, and if the Flyers were to win the series, he’d have my vote for playoff MVP.

Danny Briere: When Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne went down with foot injuries at the end of the conference quarterfinals, alot of people, myself included, assumed the Flyers would go down with them. Instead, they got stellar efforts from guys like Briere, Claude Giroux and even bruisers like Arron Asham. Briere has been playing like it’s 2007 and he’s back on the Sabres this postseason, With 11 goals and 25 points, Briere trails only Jonathan Toews among playoff scorers, and without his offensive explosion, the Flyers probably wouldn’t be here right now.

Antti Niemi: I know it’s rare for a goalie to be named the Conn Smythe winner, and I don’t particularly think that Niemi is the biggest reason the Hawks have been so successful. However, he has been a major factor in their success, and the fact that he’s done it all as a rookie is even more impressive. A 15-6 record, 2 shutouts, a 2.62 GAA and only 55 goals against is a pretty strong stat line for any playoff goalie, let alone one playing in his first NHL postseason.

There a number of other players that could be considered candidates for this award, depending on how the series finishes. Patrick Sharp’s 9 goals and 19 points put him among the playoff scoring leaders, and of course there’s Pat Kane, who’s had the magic more than a few times that was just enough to keep the Hawks on top. Dustin Byfuglien’s emergence as a scoring threat was the biggest reason Chicago downed the Canucks and Sharks with relative ease, as neither team was able to come up with an answer for the not-so-gentle giant. I think Richards, Briere and Pronger have been the best players for the Flyers so far, but if Michael Leighton had played the entire postseason and put up the type of numbers he has in his limited starts, he’d have to be in the conversation, same as Halak would be if Montreal were in the Finals.

In the end, I think my original playoff prediction will hold up, and Toews should be getting the Conn Smythe Trophy to close out what has been an incredible season for him. Adding a Stanley Cup ring and playoff MVP award to his trophy case would give the 22 year old plenty to celebrate during the offseason, I’m sure.

Thanks for reading, as always, and if you like what you read here, feel free to check out the rest of the site, there’s some great writers working on here and on our team sites, as well. Finally, you can follow me at twitter.com/editorinleaf. See you next week.