Sports

Conn Smythe Power Rankings: Verhaeghe and Johnston?! Oh my!

May 6, 2024

Eight teams are still chasing Stanley Cup dreams and the field of players you can make an early Conn Smythe case for is definitely a larger number than that.

And for all the notable first-round performances we’ll highlight here, there’s obviously still a long path ahead for new heroes to show themselves. Last year’s playoff MVP, Jonathan Marchessault of the Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights, didn’t even score his first goal of the post-season until Game 3 of Round 2.

So with three rounds of hockey still to come, here’s a long list of players who’ve taken the first steps toward winning the second-most important trophy handed out each June.

Carter Verhaeghe, Florida Panthers

Nobody had more even-strength points in the first round than the eight Verhaeghe put up in five games versus the Tampa Bay Lightning. Included among them was Verghaeghe’s fifth career playoff overtime goal, which ties him for the lead among current players with Corey Perry and Patrick Kane. Only Maurice Richard (six) and Joe Sakic (eight) have more all-time. Verhaeghe has played in 14 post-season overtime contests and scored the winner in roughly 36 per cent of them.

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

McDavid may only have one goal so far, but he still leads the league in playoff scoring with 12 points. Eight of his 11 assists have been primary helpers.

Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers

Zibanejad has already played one second-round contest, but he’s still only suited up for five playoff games after the Blueshirts swept the Washington Capitals to kick off the big dance. The 31-year-old has 10 points in those handful of contests — tied for second in scoring with Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl — and his seven primary assists are just one shy of McDavid’s NHL-best eight in the same amount of outings.

Wyatt Johnston, Dallas Stars

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A new clutch playoff star is emerging right before our eyes. Last year, a day after his 20^th birthday, Johnston became the youngest player in league history to score a Game 7-clinching goal during Dallas’ victory over the Seattle Kraken. This time out (with his 21^st birthday still a week away) all Johnston did was lead Dallas with seven points in their seven-game victory over the defending-champion Vegas Golden Knights, scoring the opening tally in that 2-1 Game 7 victory and netting two goals — including the OT winner — in the Game 3 in Vegas that was basically win-or-you’re-done for the Stars after they fell behind 2-0 in the series.

Dallas controlled 68.53 per cent of the expected goals when Johnston was on the ice.

Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins

The Bruins lost three games to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Swayman, personally, only took two losses as Linus Ullmark got the start in Game 2. Boston’s battery may have been a true duo in the regular season, but Swayman has clearly established himself as the No. 1 stud in the post-season with an incredible .950 save percentage in six games. The 25-year-old never allowed more than two goals in any game versus the Leafs and surrendered just one goal in regulation time in four of his six starts, including the decisive Game 7 triumph.

Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche

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The Avs were exceptional at breaking the puck out of their zone versus the Winnipeg Jets and guess who was usually lugging or passing it out? Makar is tied with Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard for the scoring lead among defencemen with nine points and his coast-to-coaster in Game 4 was one of the prettiest efforts of the first round.

Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers

Bouchard broke out during last year’s post-season and he’s at it again in terms of posting big point totals. His contributions seemed to get more critical as the series wore on, as four of Bouchard’s nine Round 1 points came in the final two games versus the Los Angeles Kings. He scored the lone goal — a power-play slapper — in Edmonton’s monstrous 1-0 victory in Game 4 in L.A. that allowed the team to arrive home with a chance to close out the series. Then, with the opportunity to do that in hand, Bouchard drew an assist on each of the three second-period goals the Oilers scored to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-3 series-clinching victory in Game 5.

Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers; and Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado Avalanche

We’re lumping them together because they both ended Round 1 with seven goals in five games to pace the NHL. They even both had the same breakdown of four even-strength markers and three on the power play. Maybe Nichushkin gets the nod because two of his tallies were game-winners — or maybe it goes to Hyman because he had one assist to Nichushkin’s zero and two of the Colorado winger’s goals were ENGs.

Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

This is his time of year. Tkachuk was in the kitchen of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy all series long and totalled nine points in the five-game series, tying him with Verhaeghe for the team scoring lead.

Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers

Draisaitl is the only guy in the post-season derby who has at least five goals and five assists. Get this: Draisaitl and McDavid have both played 54 career playoff games and they have the exact same total of 87 points for an average of 1.61 points-per-game. Among players with more than 50 career post-season contests, only Wayne Gretzky averaged more points-per-game (1.84) than the current Edmonton stars.