In the Stanley Cup final, not only the best club of the season in the National Hockey League (NHL) is determined, but also the owner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, the prize for the most valuable player in the playoffs. The award has been presented since 1965 based on the results of voting by members of the Professional Association of Hockey Journalists after the decisive match of the tournament. Most often, the «Conn Smythe Trophy» — or «horse», as they like to call it in Russia — is received by the player of the winning team. In the entire history of the Stanley Cup, only five cases have been recorded when a representative of the losing finalist club was recognized as the MVP of the playoffs, among which only once the award went to a field player.
- Evgeny Malkin (2009);
- Alexander Ovechkin (2018);
- Andrey Vasilevsky (2021).
On the eve of the 2023 Stanley Cup final between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights, the leading North American media shared their predictions for both the outcome of the series and the owner of the horse. Among the main contenders for the prize is Russian Panthers goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky. The 34-year-old Russian holds a phenomenal playoff, got 11 wins in 14 matches (13 of them in the starting lineup), reflected 93.5% of shots on target and issued one shutout. For Bob, this final will be the first in his overseas career. He has already managed to leave behind the powerful “Boston Bruins”, “Toronto Maple Leafs” and “Carolina Hurricanes”. Nobody excludes that Sergey can do the same with Golden Knights.
'Nearly impossible to beat' The NHL's official website conducted a poll among its writing writers and editors, most of whom favored Bobrovsky. Six out of 16 voted for the “horse” for Sergey. Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk and Golden Knights forwards Jonathan Marchesseau, Jack Eichel and William Karlsson received two more votes, and Vegas goaltender Edin Hill and Knights forward Mark Stone — one each.
Amalia Benjamin, William Douglas, Tom Gulitti, Pete Jensen, Adam Kimelman and Dave Stubbs voted for Bobrovsky. All of them are convinced that Florida will win the Stanley Cup in six games of the series, and Bobrovsky will become the main hero of the playoffs.
- “By beating the Hurricanes, the Panthers did exactly what they needed to do to win the Stanley Cup Finals: they gave Sergey Bobrovsky a rest. Because, as he showed in this playoff, when Bobrovsky is rested and ready, he impossible to win,» says Benjamin.
- «The Panthers' run for the Stanley Cup is one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the NHL. They've got what it takes to take on the Golden Knights in the Finals. Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, has been erratic in the past, but this one playoffs he dominates like never before,» adds Jensen.
“Bob is the main reason why Florida went this far.” The well-known portal The Athletic released several materials with forecasts at once. Columnists Sean Gentill, Hayley Salvian, Shayna Goldman and Jesse Granger believe that if Florida wins, either Bobrovsky or Tkachuk will get the MVP award in the playoffs. Bob's chances of a «knight» are estimated at 62.2% versus 37.8%. With the victory of «Vegas» in the final, Bobrovsky's personal success is estimated by The Athletic journalists below — 2.7%, where Jack Eichel (73.8%) occupies the leading position (73.8%).
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“The $10 million a year player finally looks like a $10 million a year player. Bobrovsky was as good as the Panthers needed for a comeback in a series with "Boston". Since then, Sergey has been an irresistible and invincible force. He has become a brick wall that steals episode after episode. Bob is the main reason the Panthers made it to the playoffs that far. His game was enough to win «Conn Smythe» regardless of whether the «Panthers» win or not,” says one of the materials of the publication.
«He can write his name in history» Serious talk about Bobrovsky as one of the main contenders for the «Conn Smythe Trophy» began to be actively conducted during the final series of the East against the «Carolina». Then the Sporting News portal, citing bookmakers, published a list of favorites in pursuit of the prize, and Sergey, according to their estimates, had the highest chance of success.
«Bobrovsky could become the seventh goaltender in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. He is ready to write his name into history, and for this the Russian needs to perform well in the Stanley Cup Finals,» the note says. Bobrovsky, according to bookmakers, is Jack Eichel. Followed only by Mark Stone, Matthew Tkachuk and Jonathan Marchesseau, whose chances of success are said to be markedly lower.
The American received only one vote more, but there are ratings where the leader is not Bobrovsky. Well-known journalist Greg Wyshinsky published on the ESPN website a material with the results of a survey of a dozen hockey journalists, and in the top 10 main contenders for the Conn Smythe, the Russian Florida goalkeeper is in second place. Sergey lost only to his teammate Tkachuk.
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«Bobrovsky played well enough to win the series against» Boston «was the reason for the victory over» Toronto » and dealt a decisive blow to the «Caroline». Sergey is one of two players who received the first place in the rating. Tkachuk ranked higher only for the reason that he received one vote more. There's not much difference between him and Bobrovsky, but right now there's no better story in the NHL than Tkachuk. After all, after a summer exchange in "Florida" he became the face of the franchise,” the note reads.
The authors of Sportsnet also give preference to the American forward Panthers, who also put Bobrovsky in second place. Rounding out the top 3 is Jack Eichel of Vegas.
«Tkachuk scored 21 points this playoff, more than any player on both finalist teams. Matthew more than deserves a Conn Smythe win. Even if Florida loses in the Finals, he is likely to repeat the success of Reggie Leach, who in 1976 became the first and still the only fielder to win Conn Smythe after losing the Stanley Cup Final.