As a sports fan, I chose to take some time and not immediately spit out this article in confusion and rage. It’s an odd thing for me to complain about who is awarded a trophy, but this I have to say. To say the least, I think this years Cup playoffs were a joke, and the Conn Smythe Trophy only made it even clearer the figureheads with the NHL are all idiots.
The Conn Smythe trophy is award annually to the player judged most valuable to his team during the NHL Stanley Cup PLAYOFFS. This year it seems more like an award for the MVP of the Stanley Cup Finals, not the entire playoffs themselves. Ok, so I'll probably receive hate mail from Zetterberg fans, but let me say I like him as a player, but he wasn’t the MVP.
The Conn Smythe trophy if it had to go to a Red Wing should have gone to Chris Osgood, without him Detroit would have watched Nashville move on. The “Dominator”, Dominic Hasek sucked it up like a vacuum cleaner, and thanks to Mike Babcock, coach of the Wings a goalie change saved the Wings Cup hopes.
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Bottom Line: Without the goalie change Detroit may not win the series, or even win any other round to win the Stanley Cup.
Other more notable figures for the Conn Smythe include: Marc-Andre Fleury, Marty Turco, Sidney Crosby, Brenden Morrow (sorry Flyers fans, no one stood out for your team in that series) Countless others made impacts! Zetterberg is a great player, and a great Red Wing, but he does not deserve the Smythe.
My problem isn’t with the trophy even going to Zetterberg to a degree, but rather the NHL only awarding it to someone in the Cup Finals series, and not from the entire playoffs as it is meant!
If you are going to award it every year to someone in the Cup Finals, change the description of the award, make it for the Finals only. Otherwise, make it fair; stop forcing players to make it with their team to battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup, and make it for the MVP of the PLAYOFFS.
The award has been given to Zetterberg, but for next year I hope it is award to someone more deserving and possibly, someone who actually fulfills the MVP of the PLAYOFFS description.
Image: Courtesy of NHL.com
Now it’s your turn Bleacher Report, what do you think? Am I a Jerk? Or am I dead on?
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2 months ago
Well, for a non-finals player to win anything would be just foolish. Unless they had some freakish record-breaking performance (which didn't happen). You could possibly see this going to one of the Penguins, IF, they could have stretched it to seven games. The only reasonable player from Pittsburgh under that scenario could be Fleury because his team was outplayed by Detroit in both wins, and it was him that even made it a series. But, he had some poor save attempts in the last game that cost them. As for Osgood, no doubt he was better than Hasek, but his defense protects him SOOO much. For all we heard about how difficult it is to make saves when you're only seeing 19 shots a game, I'll bet Fleury would've traded places in a heartbeat. That guy had to stand on his head, whereas Osgood seldom saw breakaways because of the Wings defensive mastery at the blue line.
Zetterburg led the PLAYOFFS with 27 points (tied with Crosby), led in goals scored (tied with Franzen), led in plus/minus which speaks to his defensive effort (a stat Crosby doesn't break the top ten in), and his team won the cup. That's a pretty convincing line to me.
from 2 months ago
Point is, Without Osgood Detroit doesn't make the Cup and Zetterberg is already sipping mojito's on the beach during the Finals. My problem is why it isn't an award for the entire playoffs, but only an award for the Finals. For example, Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow carried the Stars to the Western Conference Finals. There are plenty of other playoff MVP's but everyone forgets them. His stats are good, but theres more to being a most valuable player than leading in points. There are better ways to lead your team and be most valuable to them.
from 2 months ago
I agree that Osgood was probably a LITTLE more deserving (Hasek had won two games, though, so I wouldn't say they wouldn't have beaten Nashville without Oz). However, Z did set an Original Six franchise post-season scoring record, no small feat considering they didn't play a single seven game series and had one sweep.
And I have to agree with Daniel here--why would Turco get a trophy when he couldn't even play in as many series as Osgood? Why would you give it to Fleury when he was outplayed in the series by Osgood?
I also disagree with the comment of Derek, below, that Z is the best defensive player in the game. I assume he meant forward, otherwise he is not even best on his team, and may not even be among forwards (Datsyuk is pretty good, too). But Brenden Morrow would be my top choice because of the physicality he brings to the table, and I think you have to consider Madden, Thornton, Ovechkin, and Lehtinen right there with him--remember the Selke is like the Gold Glove: it claims to be for defense, but only great offensive players are considered. Ovechkin was the only player who had a year that compared to Z's and Datsyuk's, so most of the others weren't finalists because they weren't really considered.
from 2 months ago
The Finals are part of the playoffs Ken. If you didn't make it there, then you have an indefensible hole in your resume. That's like getting an "A" on your first three tests of the semester only to take an "F" on your last one. Your average is now a "B-". Osgood, who really is the only defensible alternative to Zetterberg given the line above, is a slightly above average goalie on a great team. Hasek was playing well below average. Is that an improvement? Absolutely. Osgood played very well. But by your logic, a goaltender should always win the award. Even more so if he's got a bum backing him up? Not so sure that's within the spirit of the award either.
And yes, there are other ways to help your club. That often shows up in plus/minus, which Zetterberg also led the playoffs in.
2 months ago
Idk, Ken, I see where you are coming from, but I still think Zetterberg deserved this award more than anyone else. Great article, though
2 months ago
Yeah, Z deserved it no doubt. For a player who is so explosive offensively, he is possibly the best defensive player in the game.
from 2 months ago
best defensive, yes, thats why we have the Selke, Playoff MVP? Does no one else remember Chris Osgood saving the Wings against Nashville? They could have lost that series.
from 2 months ago
The Selke isn't a playoff award, it accounts for the whole season. Are you minimizing the importance of having good defensive forwards? Also, Hasek's first loss to Nashville happened while the wings were being outshot (the only time this happened in the playoffs). Osgood enjoyed two to one shot margins for the most part after that. Who knows? Maybe his presence back there made the defense more comfortable but that's just conjecture. The Wings out-shot Nashville 54-21 and 43-20 in the last two games of that series. I gotta believe Hasek could've got it done under those circumstances.
2 months ago
There is no Way Zetterberg should have won that trophy. Nashville what about the other series? Dallas? The finals against pittsburgh, he helped them sweep colorado who was no pushover. Osgood deserved that more than Zetterberg. By Far
Nice article
from 2 months ago
Good to see someone agrees with me. Thanks for the support.
2 months ago
True, if there is no goalie switch, the Wings don't make it out of the first round.
Still Zetterberg had fantastic offensive numbers, and an amazing defensive showing this post season.
But hey, there always is more than one obvious choice for the Smythe right? They both deserved it.
from 2 months ago
Thank you! One person who is not completely ignorant. The Smythe always has multiple people who deserve it, so choosing one will always create controversy. I actually believed that Osgood did deserve the trophy for his playoff long performance, but Hank was equally important to his team's success, just on a different level.
Yes Ozzie replacing Hasek changed that series, and he played very strong for the rest of the playoffs, but Hank did set a record, was on the ice in every key situation, and had some of the best defensive numbers by a forward in a long time. You can't argue that one of them deserved it more than the other, at least not in a realistic sense. The Wings wouldn't have even come close to winning the cup without either of these guys, but only one can win the award.
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