Ranking the Top 2017 Conn Smythe Trophy Candidates After the Conference Finals

With just the Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins still standing, it's time to look seriously at which players are making cases for themselves as the most valuable player in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Conn Smythe Trophy will be awarded to that MVP at the end of the Final—just before the Stanley Cup is handed out.

I took a look at possible candidates in this article in early May, when eight teams were still in the mix. Not surprisingly, the landscape has changed considerably since then.

With most of the early front-runners now eliminated from postseason contention, only one player from that list is still in the mix.

Marc-Andre Fleury has also lost his inside track on the trophy. Pittsburgh's early standout gave up four goals in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators, and the Penguins pulled him from the net in favor of Matt Murray.

If the now-healthy Murray finishes out the playoffs, neither Penguins netminder would likely have enough of a body of work to merit serious Conn Smythe consideration. That'll make for some interesting arguments about which forward is most deserving if Pittsburgh does go all the way and repeat as Cup champion.

Of course, if the Predators can ride their first serious playoff run all the way to a championship, they'll be putting forward some worthy candidates of their own.

As the scene is being set for Game 1 Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, here's a look at the top candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy this year.

6. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Playoff Stats to Date: 19 GP, 7-17-24, plus-8

Previous Ranking: not ranked

What's Working For Him 

Evgeni Malkin has led the 2017 playoffs in points since early in the first round, when he posted two goals and nine assists in five games against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

During a tough regular season, Malkin battled multiple injuries, including a shoulder issue that kept him out for 13 games at the end of the year. But he started the postseason with guns blazing and has continued to log big minutes, including a playoff-high 24 minutes, 23 seconds, in Pittsburgh's Game 7 double-overtime win over the Ottawa Senators.

What's Working Against Him 

Malkin won the Conn Smythe when Pittsburgh captured the Cup in 2009, leading the scoring race with a jaw-dropping 36 points in 24 games. Smythe voters tend to be reluctant to bestow multiple awards on the same player. Malkin hasn't been as dominant this postseason as he was the year he won.

Also, Malkin has lost steam a bit as the playoffs have progressed. He had 11 points in his first five playoff games and then added a much tamer 13 in 14 games since—good but not sensational.

Malkin chipped in six points against Ottawa, but they were largely inconsequential. His two goals both came in losses, and three of his four assists came in the Penguins' 7-0 blowout in Game 5. His assist on Phil Kessel's winning goal in Game 2 was his only game-changing contribution on the scoresheet in the conference final.

As the playoffs have progressed, Malkin's star has dimmed a bit. He'll need a huge performance against Nashville in the Final if he wants to join the elite group of two-time Conn Smythe winners.

5. Roman Josi, Nashville Predators

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Playoff Stats to Date: 16 GP, 5-5-10, plus-4

Previous Ranking: not ranked

What's Working For Him 

A mainstay of the Nashville blue line for the last six seasons, Roman Josi leads all defensemen with five goals in the playoffs. The biggest one came with 2:43 to play in the third period of Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks; the power-play marker held up as the game-winner and gave the Preds a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Final.

Josi has also logged the most minutes of any Predators skater in the playoffs, averaging 25:56 per game and playing in all situations. The 26-year-old has been on the radar of awards-voters in recent years—he finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

What's Working Against Him 

Nashville's top four is excellent. There's not much to differentiate between Josi and his teammates Ryan Ellis (11 points), P.K. Subban (10 points) and Mattias Ekholm (eight points, topping this group in plus-minus at plus-10).

Conn Smythe voting is often heavily weighted by players' performances in the Stanley Cup Final, especially in clutch situations. A couple of game-changing contributions from Subban or Ellis against Pittsburgh could vault them ahead of Josi to become first among equals on Nashville's blue line.

4. Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Playoff Stats to Date: 16 GP, 8-7-15, plus-17

Previous Ranking: not ranked

What's Working For Him 

One of the NHL's most reliable snipers and still just 22 years old, Filip Forsberg has been the top catalyst for Nashville's offense in these playoffs. His 15 points lead the Predators, and his eight goals are just one behind league leaders Jake Guentzel and Jakob Silfverberg.

Even more impressively, Forsberg has gotten better as the playoffs have rolled along. He's on a seven-game point streak that dates back to Game 6 of Round 2 against St. Louis. And the loss of Ryan Johansen—the regular center—to injury after Game 4 of the conference final hasn't slowed Forsberg down. He recorded the primary assist on Pontus Aberg's game-winning goal in Game 5 and then added a goal and an assist in the series-clinching Game 6.

It's not like Forsberg is a defensive liability, either. His plus-17 is the best of any player in the postseason.

What's Working Against Him 

His teammates.

Nashville is known for having one of the deepest defenses in the NHL. Pekka Rinne has been delivering the performance of a lifetime in the Predators net. The forwards get a little less love in Music City.

That could change if Forsberg is able to build on his strong performance against Anaheim. He's notoriously streaky, so if he gets on a roll, he could be a handful for the Penguins defense to shut down.

3. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Playoff Stats to Date: 18 GP, 7-13-20, minus-1

Previous Ranking: not ranked

What's Working For Him 

Sidney Crosby is the captain and the face of the Pittsburgh Penguins—the team's most identifiable player and the one who gets the lion's share of the credit for its success.

Crosby won the Conn Smythe last year with a 6-13-19 stat line and a minus-two in 24 games, finishing tied for sixth in playoff points. This year, despite missing one game with a concussion, his numbers are even better. With one series still to be played, he's already at 20 points and sits second in the scoring race.

If he was good last year, Crosby has arguably been even better in the playoffs this time around. It's not hard to argue he has been his team's most valuable player from start to finish in the postseason.

What's Working Against Him 

It's rare for the same player to win the Conn Smythe in consecutive seasons. According to Hockey Reference, only two players have accomplished this feat since the trophy was first awarded in 1965—goaltender Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1974 and 1975 and Crosby's boss, Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, in 1991 and 1992.

Of course, it has been a while since a team won back-to-back championships, setting up the possibility of the same winner in consecutive years. If Pittsburgh captures its second straight Cup, it'll be the first team to do so since the Detroit Red Wings pulled it off in 1997 and 1998—with Mike Vernon and Steve Yzerman winning the Conn Smythe in those seasons, respectively.

2. Phil Kessel, Pittsburgh Penguins

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Playoff Stats to Date: 19 GP, 7-12-19, plus-11

Previous Ranking: not ranked

What's Working For Him 

Don't laugh. The way things are trending, this could be Phil Kessel's year.

For the second straight season, Kessel is among the NHL's top five playoff scoring leaders, and he's making big contributions as the games grow more important. Kessel logged two goals and four assists against Ottawa, including the only goal of the defensive duel in Game 2, which evened the series at 1-1.

Kessel's playoff profile is lower than it was last year, when the HBK Line earned plenty of ink and when fans from his former team in Toronto looked on incredulously at his success. But he's on pace to pass the 22 points he earned last year—and he may have gotten a raw deal in the 2016 Conn Smythe voting, since he was the leading scorer on the Cup-winning team.

Crosby and Malkin, his main competition, have already won Conn Smythes. With the goalie duties now split and All-Star Kris Letang sidelined due to injury, if the voters are in the mood to anoint someone new from the Pittsburgh lineup this year, Kessel would be the logical choice.

What's Working Against Him 

Kessel is still perceived as a one-dimensional player—a sniper whose primary purpose is to score goals. In fact, his two-way game has been solid in these playoffs, as shown by his team-best plus-11 rating. 

Voters could also dismiss him because 11 of his 19 points have come on the power play. But special teams are crucial to playoff success, and Pittsburgh's power play is tied for second-best in the playoffs with a 25 percent success rate.

Kessel could be out of range if the Penguins repeat and it comes down to outpolling Crosby and Malkin in the voting. Even with their previous Conn Smythe wins, both those players rank higher than Kessel on the NHL's superstar scale.

1. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

Sanford Myers/Getty Images

Playoff Stats to Date: 16 GP, 12-4, 1.70 goals-against average, .941 save percentage, two shutouts

Previous Ranking: 2

What's Working For Him 

Pekka Rinne has been the backbone of the Predators' storybook run to the Stanley Cup Final. The 34-year-old has manned the Nashville net for every second of the playoffs so far and has been a model of consistency. He has given up four goals in a game just once—in Game 2 against Anaheim—and has helped ensure the Preds have yet to fall behind in a playoff series.

Nashville is a team with many good players but few true stars. If the Preds capture the Cup, Rinne would be the easiest player to single out for his team's success.

What's Working Against Him 

Is Rinne's heavy workload starting to wear him down? 

The only goalie to have played more minutes than him so far in the postseason is Craig Anderson of the Ottawa Senators. Rinne was also the 10th-busiest goalie in the NHL during the regular season, appearing in 61 contests, so he'll break the 80-game threshold before the playoffs are over.

Rinne's performance has been dipping slightly as the postseason has progressed. He gave up just three goals in four games in Round 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks, then allowed 11 goals in six games against the St. Louis Blues before the Ducks scored on him 14 times in six contests in the Western Conference Final. 

Anaheim was tied with Nashville as the second-best offensive team in the playoffs, averaging 2.94 goals per game. Pittsburgh is No. 1, though, at 3.05. Going into the Final with three of the top four players in the postseason scoring race, the Penguins will be Rinne's biggest test of the 2017 playoffs so far.

All stats from NHL.com and current through games completed May 25.