Years where the Conn Smythe was up in the air

[tjcurrie]

Originally Posted by TheDevilMadeMe

Doubtful. Brodeur was awesome in the finals (2000 is still the best goalie duel I've seen in the finals) but was nothing more than "solid" until then.

I remember Jason Arnott being hyped as the alternative to Stevens, but I really don't think 2000 was much in the air. The A-line was great and all but neither Elias or Arnott really stood out from the other in the playoffs.

True dat. I almost deleted that part of my post, thinking "mmm nah it was Stevens all the way."

Busted

To this day I wish Eddie wouldnt have been all doped up for game one. Coulda been a different outcome, but regardless it was truly an amazing series after that first game.

I would add Messier 1994 to my list.

Also see that Niedermayer's 2007 CS is being debated. He finished 8th in team scoring, and was a +2 compared to Pronger's +10. I know stats arent the whole story, but was he truly deserving of the CS that year? Or was it a toss up?

[Padan]

Originally Posted by tjcurrie

Also see that Niedermayer's 2007 CS is being debated. He finished 8th in team scoring, and was a +2 compared to Pronger's +10. I know stats arent the whole story, but was he truly deserving of the CS that year? Or was it a toss up?

I definitely think that it should have gone to Samuel Pahlsson. He had 12 points and lead the playoffs in +/- despite playing every shift against the opponents top line. Pronger also had a very good playoff, but he didn't face the top scoring lines since Niedermayer-Beauchemin took care of that (if my memory serves me right).

Niedermayer played very well in the Finals, but he didn't impress me at all in the three previous rounds. I remember that he looked pretty bad at times in the defensive zone (and not only when Jeff Cowen made him look like a fool in the Vancouver series)

[Kyle McMahon]

Originally Posted by quoipourquoi

You keep saying blogger in a dismissive and derogatory manner. I've given you two voters talking specifically about Chris Pronger as being the guy both before and immediately after Game 6 - and a third voter talking about him before the Finals as being the Flyers' MVP (while you said that any pro-Pronger argument must ignore the first three rounds). It's a little different than reading what some anonymous person with a Blogger account thinks about the playoffs. It's a little different than Kevin Bieksa in 2011.

Thakfully the voters not pre-occupied with blogging got it right, and Pronger didn't win the Smythe. The voting records have never been released for the Smythe, and for all we know these three were the only three that even considered Pronger, and just happen to have internet soapboxes from which to trumpet their opinions. All we know for sure is that more voters favoured Toews than Pronger.

My statement that any pro-Pronger argument must ignore the first three rounds isn't me saying Pronger didn't do anything in the first three rounds to merit consideration. I'm saying that Toews performed better against better competition in those rounds.

If you can't make the connection between Chris Pronger being a Conn Smythe hopeful and 1. One voter saying that Chris Pronger is the MVP; 2. Another voter saying that there was debate about whether or not Pronger should have been given the Conn Smythe; then the previous demonstration of your lack of capability to interpret a sentence and apply week one material from a freshmen's logic class is just the beginning of your inability to have this discussion with me. There doesn't need to be precedent if the voters themselves are openly discussing creating new precedent. There was no precedent for Reggie Leach. There was no precedent for Scott Stevens. There was no precedent for Jonathan Toews; he truly was the first forward to win the Conn Smythe without scoring a goal in the Stanley Cup Finals... which, by the way, was because of Chris Pronger.

Well at least you are seeing that Pronger winning would have indeed set a new precedent.

As stated previously, the best player, captain, and leading scorer of the Cup winner getting the Smythe is hardly big news, even if you've managed to find a detail that makes it unprecedented in your eyes.

[Mark Messier]

Anyone think that Barrasso should have won it in 92 over Lemieux?

[blogofmike]

Originally Posted by Mark Messier

Anyone think that Barrasso should have won it in 92 over Lemieux?

They could, but they probably shouldn't. It was a very good run though.