NHL Conn Smythe Contenders in 2008

Three days without hockey.  Ugh.

Fortunately for me, it gave me a chance to distance myself from the pain that is seeing your team go out because they were not focused enough.  I can handle it if someone else is just better, but knowing we should have advanced, and didn't, is excruciating. 

That may be why I have only put out one article in those three days rather than my usual three.  It also may be because my job has started to actually require my devoted attention this week—I hate it when that happens!

But unlike last year, I am not going to let this deter me from enjoying the games that do remain.  I am playing more video game hockey these days, though—at least I know those Sharks are going to come ready to play!

Having already given my predictions for the final two rounds, I felt it was a good idea to review the players most responsible for their teams' runs to this point. 

For each of the remaining four teams, I will list the front-runner, contender, and dark horse candidate for the Conn Smythe, if their team were to win the Stanley Cup.  All stats are listed as they stood before tonight's game.

Detroit

Johan Franzen has two more goals than anyone else in the playoffs, and only played one more game than Pittsburgh's players.  He is also tied for the lead in playoff points, so he has to be the front-runner. 

Henrik Zetterberg leads the league in +/- and is only one point behind Franzen, making him the chief challenger.  If Chris Osgood continues to play well, he has a real shot at winning it.

Dallas

Brenden Morrow has been a leader, a hitter, and a scorer of big goals. He has seven goals and four assists.  In the series against San Jose alone he had two overtime winners—in the first game and the series clincher in quadruple overtime.

In that game, he knocked Milan Michalek, the Sharks' second-leading scorer, out of the game with the most vicious legal hit I have ever seen. That probably allowed him to get the game winner, since it thinned San Jose's forwards down in a long game.

I added him to my list of favourite players, after he had finished his Shark Hunt.

Marty Turco has to be a very close second: if Morrow is Obama, Turco is Hillary (works for me too, because I don't care for him like I do Morrow, but I digress).

He played out of his ever-loving mind in the series, and played beyond belief in the series clincher.  He was also great against the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. 

Mike Modano is always a candidate because he has been this team's leader for years and has the capability of coming up big.  He has improved defensively and is still a threat to score on any given shift.

Pittsburgh

So far, Evgeni Malkin is the man.  He was a Hart finalist during the regular season and is still carrying this team.  His 1.56 points-per-game average is highest in the league, and he has been clutch with two game winners.  He needs to be better in the faceoff circle, however.

Marc-Andre Fleury has been a stud in net for the Penguins, and no one means more to any team in any sport than a goaltender does in hockey.  If this team wins it all, it will need Fleury to show he's on more than a hot streak, and carry them to the finish line. 

Sidney Crosby, being the most talented player in the league, is also a candidate for hockey's most prestigious individual honour.

Philadelphia

The easy answer here is Daniel Briere, with eight goals and 14 points.  Since I likened the Dallas contest to the Democratic race, I'll say this one is more like the Republican primary, and Briere is McCain.

However, R.J. Umberger is still in this (i.e. the race is equated more to how things looked before Super Tuesday) with 12 points and a plus-six rating.

As always, Martin Biron could take this if he is able to steal a couple key games for the Flyers.

So far, even though his scoring does not compare favourably with Franzen, Malkin, and Zetterberg, I would give the nod to Morrow. Then again, I have seen how he wreaked havoc on his opponents first-hand.