Conn Smythe Trophy
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The Conn Smythe Trophy is a major ice hockey trophy in the National Hockey League (NHL). It is awarded annually to the most valuable player of the entire play-offs following the last game of the Stanley Cup final series . This does not necessarily have to come from the team of the Stanley Cup winner.
The trophy was named after ice hockey official Conn Smythe , former owner and coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame . It was donated in 1964 by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and was first awarded in the 1964/65 season.
With three wins, goalkeeper Patrick Roy is the record winner of the trophy. He is also the only player to date to have won it with two different teams.
Award and history
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The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded by a vote of twelve to 15 members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association . Among them are three journalists from each city of the teams in the Stanley Cup final series. Even before a possible final game, the voters must decide on a winner, but the vote will be discarded if the series has not yet ended after the game. If it comes to the decisive seventh game in the best-of-seven series , each person who votes gives two versions, depending on the winning team.
The trophy is awarded by the NHL commissioner directly after the last game of the Stanley Cup playoffs - before the Stanley Cup is handed over . It is therefore the only individual trophy that is not awarded as part of the NHL Awards . In addition, unlike most other trophies, only the winner of the award is announced, and not the second and third placed players.
The winner of the trophy does not necessarily have to come from the team of the Stanley Cup winner. So far, five players (including four goalkeepers) have been honored who did not win the Stanley Cup in the same year, most recently Jean-Sébastien Giguère from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2003. All players were at least with their team in the final series. Roger Crozier , who was the first goalkeeper to receive the trophy in 1966, is also the only Conn Smythe Trophy winner to never win a Stanley Cup. Even Ron Hextall , the total of three times in the Stanley Cup final was the Cup as a player was denied. In 2012, however, he finally won him over as assistant general manager with the Los Angeles Kings .
So far only three different players have managed to double out of the Hart Memorial Trophy for the most valuable player of the regular season and the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player of the play-offs: Wayne Gretzky in the 1984/85 season , Guy Lafleur in the 1976/77 season and Bobby Orr in 1971/72 and 1969/70 seasons . Orr is the only player who managed this feat twice.
Winner since 1965
A total of 47 different players have been recognized in 54 seasons since the trophy was introduced. In 2005, the award was not given due to the lockout and the associated loss of the entire season.
Abbreviations: Pos = position, GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, PIM = penalty minutes
Goalkeeper statistics: W = victories, GAA = goals against goals , Sv% = catch rate (from the 1985/86 season ), SO = Shutouts
All data refer only to the relevant play-offs.
Leaderboards
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So far only six players have won the Conn Smythe Trophy multiple times: goalkeeper Bernie Parent , defender Bobby Orr and centers Mario Lemieux , Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby have each received two awards. Patrick Roy , who won the trophy twice with the Canadiens de Montréal and once with the Colorado Avalanche , was the only player to be successful three times.
With a share of approx. 85%, the majority of the winners come from Canada . It was not until 1994 that Brian Leetch from the United States was the first non-Canadian to win the award. The Swede Nicklas Lidström was the first European to receive an award in 2002. So far, the trophy has been awarded most often to center forwards with 19 awards , followed by goalkeepers with 16 trophies. In addition, defenders with nine titles have so far been more successful than wingers . So only seven right and two left wingers could win the trophy.
Most often, the award has so far been given to players from the Canadiens de Montréal who have been successful a total of nine times. This is followed by the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins with five excellent players each, and the New York Islanders , Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers with four each. The Philadelphia Flyers are also the only team from which two players were awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, although they lost in the respective final series. The Toronto Maple Leafs , whose operating organization had donated the trophy, has only won it once since then, when they won their Stanley Cup, which is their last to date , in 1967 .
The St. Louis Blues , whose goalkeeper Glenn Hall was awarded the trophy in 1968, have long been the only team that has already won a Conn Smythe Trophy, but not yet a Stanley Cup; this changed in 2019.
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Web links
- Conn Smythe Trophy on the National Hockey League website
- Conn Smythe Trophy at legendsofhockey.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ Conn Smythe Trophy on the NHL Awards website (accessed January 24, 2013)
- ↑ a b Eric Duhatschek: How the Conn Smythe voting shakes down , The Globe and Mail , June 15, 2011 (accessed January 24, 2013)
- ↑ Eric Duhatschek: Toews takes Conn Smythe trophy , The Globe and Mail June 9, 2010 (accessed January 24, 2013)
- ↑ Conn Smythe Trophy Winners , Associated Press via NHL.com, June 11, 2012 (accessed January 24, 2013)
- ↑ Dan Rosen: Hextall finally gets pleasure of winning the Cup , NHL.com, June 12, 2012 (accessed January 24, 2013)
- ↑ Hart Memorial Trophy on the NHL Awards website (accessed January 24, 2013)