SUNRISE, Fla. — For many NHL players, a four-point performance in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final that also shattered a Wayne Gretzky playoff record would be a career achievement.
For Connor McDavid, it was Saturday.
Edmonton Oilers winger Zach Hyman has witnessed plenty of magic from McDavid since becoming his teammate three seasons ago: McDavid had a hand in most of Hyman's 117 goals with the Oilers. But he was still amazed by McDavid's achievement in Game 4: setting an NHL record for assists in a single postseason (32), surpassing Gretzky's record from 1988, while moving into fifth place for most points ( 38) in a single postseason.
“It's pretty incredible,” Hyman said. “I don't think many people thought Wayne's stats were achievable. He's the Great One. I think Connor is putting together one of the best postseasons. [ever]. “He has assumed that responsibility.”
McDavid has been everything for Edmonton, from his five-point night to start the playoffs to his heroics in Game 6 against the Dallas Stars to his seven points in the finals, leading all scorers. If the Oilers somehow bounce back to win the Stanley Cup after falling 3-0 to the Florida Panthers, McDavid should beat out Conn Smythe for playoff MVP by a walk.
But should Conn Smythe be the winner, win or lose for Edmonton?
THE OILERS BELIEVE the MVP award belongs to McDavid no matter what the team does.
“For sure. He's the only guy that consistently brings an elite level every game for us,” defenseman Brett Kulak said. “Maybe people looking in from the outside don't see everything he's doing, but we feel his contributions and his impact on the team every night. He always brings that extra team.”
Edmonton forward Dylan Holloway also believes McDavid is the playoff MVP, regardless of if the Oilers don't make the Cup.
“I think so. I mean, any time you beat Gretzky's record, it's pretty special,” he said. “So far he's been amazing for us. He's a great leader. So I think so.”
The Conn Smythe has been awarded 58 times. He has given it to a player on the team that lost the Stanley Cup Final only five times. In four of those cases, he has fallen on a goalie: Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings (1966), Glenn Hall of the St. Louis Blues (1968), Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers (1987) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere . of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2003).
Only one skater has captured the Conn Smythe in a losing effort: Reggie Leach of the Flyers in 1976. The Flyers had won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, but were swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1976 Cup Finals.
As in other seasons when a losing player won the MVP, the Canadiens had strong candidates but none that stood out. Ken Dryden went 12-1 with a 1.92 goals-against average, but he had already won the award as a rookie in 1971 and was playing behind a steamroller that lost just once en route to its seventh Stanley Cup since 1965. Guy LaFleur had a solid but unspectacular 17 points in 13 games. He would win the Conn Smythe in 1977 with 26 points in 14 games, for comparison.
Leach's case is actually similar to McDavid's case: leading the playoffs in scoring and breaking NHL records.
Leach led the playoffs in scoring with 24 points in 16 games. His 19 goals set a Stanley Cup playoff record, breaking Montreal forward Yvan Cournoyer's record of 15 goals in 17 games set in 1973. Leach scored nine of those goals in the Flyers' semifinal victory over the Boston Bruins, which represents almost half of the Flyers. ' counts in the series and sets a record for goals in the modern NHL era in a playoff series.
Leach's victory at Conn Smythe was treated by the media as superficial, given his achievements. Sports Illustrated didn't even report his Most Valuable Player win in the game's history. The New York Times didn't mention Leach until the 13th paragraph of its article, just below a reference to Flyers anthem singer Kate Smith and her “lime-colored, ruffled dress.”
Like Reggie Leach, McDavid has:
He led the playoffs in scoring by a considerable margin, eight points better than his teammate León Draisaitl.
He broke an NHL scoring record in leading his team to the Stanley Cup Final, surpassing Gretzky in assists.
He accounted for most of his team's offensive achievements. Entering Game 5, McDavid has 38 points and the Oilers have scored 75 goals. That puts McDavid on track to become just the second player in NHL history to account for more than half of his team's goals in a best-of-seven playoff series. The other was… who else? — Gretzky in 1988, with 43 points on Edmonton's 84 goals.
He has been the clear MVP of his team, while his opponents have multiple claims to Conn Smythe's throne. ESPN BET has Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and captain Aleksander Barkov neck and neck for MVP.
On top of that, McDavid's teammates consider him the catalyst for their playoff comebacks.
That dates back to the regular season, when Edmonton's resurgence after a disastrous start had as much to do with McDavid finding his game as it did with the team's changing coaches. In the playoffs, McDavid's clutch nature actually gave him another NHL record: most points (23) in games after a loss, surpassing Doug Gilmour (20 in 1993) for most in a playoff year. .
“Every time our team's back is against the wall, he's the first one to fight back,” Hyman said. “For us to come back, he has to be the best. He always seems to be the best when we're in these situations.”
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McDavid sets assist record on Oilers' seventh goal
Connor McDavid sets the single-season postseason assist record with his 32nd on a pass to Dylan Holloway.
THE PANTHERS HAVE Multiple MVP candidates enter Game 5, and anecdotally, both Bobrovsky and Barkov have their supporters among voters.
The path for Barkov is clear: score significantly in a Cup-clinching game, lead Florida in postseason scoring and exert his defensive will against McDavid's line in that game. His 21 points are one more than Matthew Tkachuk to lead the team.
Bobrovsky's path became a little more complicated after Game 4, when he was pulled in the second period after five Edmonton goals.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Bobrovsky's 2.27 goals-against average would be the worst by a Conn Smythe winning goaltender since Edmonton's Bill Ranford won in 1990 with a 2.53 GAA. Ranford had a higher save percentage (.912) than Bobrovsky currently has (.909). In fact, Bob's save percentage in the playoffs would be the second-worst of a goaltender to ever win the Conn Smythe behind Hextall's .908 save percentage in 1987, when he won the MVP in a losing effort.
As a reminder, there are 18 members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association voting for Conn Smythe. (To be clearer, I'm not one of them.) They email their top three to Conn Smythe 10 minutes into the third period of a potential Cup-clinching game.
Voters can present contingencies with their selections. For example, let's say a voter likes Bobrovsky but includes a warning that if Barkov scores the winner in a game that is tied at the time of the vote, Barkov will be elevated to #1.
What happens in a Game 5 win in Florida could ultimately decide which Panther gets Conn Smythe.
But what happens if Edmonton wins and forces Game 6?
Leach won MVP in a sweep, as did Glenn Hall, but Crozier's Red Wings lost in six games. The last two players from the losing teams that won the Conn Smythe lost the Cup in Game 7.
The longer the Stanley Cup Final drags on, the stronger McDavid's case as “MVP, win or lose” could become, as long as he continues to be the one driving Edmonton.
But if you ask the Oilers, McDavid should win the Conn Smythe regardless of the outcome of the series.
“He's the captain of the team. It's his leadership and presence in the room. Off the ice. On practice days. The work that he's putting in, he's setting the tone and the pace of every day,” Kulak said. “It's not easy to do that. So, in my opinion, I believe for sure [he should win]”.
