Cale Makar Remains On Top of Conn Smythe Power Rankings

With the Colorado Avalanche jumping into a 2-0 series lead to open the Stanley Cup Final and Game 3 Monday, the odds for Conn Smythe as Playoff MVP are shifting heavily towards Colorado’s best players.

That means defenseman Cale Makar is still the favorite to win the award, followed by center Nathan MacKinnon.

Of some interest is that there are some longer shots on the Colorado roster that have moved into the discussion as possible sleeper candidates.

Here are the latest Conn Smythe odds from DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, and Caesars Sportsbook.

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Here is a look at the top contenders for the Conn Smythe Trophy:

Cale Makar

Colorado’s standout defenseman is tied for the playoff scoring lead among players in the Stanley Cup Final, producing 24 points (7 G, 17 A) in just 16 games. He was the Conn Smythe favorite coming into the Final after scoring a pair of goals in Colorado’s Game 2 blowout victory.

Makar has what appears to be a pretty strong grip on the award.

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Nathan MacKinnon

While MacKinnon has 20 points (11 G, 9 A) in 16 postseason contests, he has just two assists through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final, which is not enough to put pressure on Makar for the top spot.

A big performance from MacKinnon could still cause a shift but he is clearly playing from behind in this competition.

Mikko Rantanen

It might be a longshot for anyone other than Makar or MacKinnon to win the Conn Smythe at this point, but Rantanen’s odds have moved rather dramatically after two games, going from +3000 on FanDuel before the Final started to +750 heading into Game 3.

Rantanen has five assists in two games against Tampa Bay and has recorded at least one point in 11 of the past 12 games.

Andrei Vasilevskiy

If the Lightning are going to rally to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup, they will likely need their goaltender to be outstanding. Vasilevskiy has been vulnerable though, allowing 11 goals on 68 shots in the Final, and it could be difficult for him to win a second straight Conn Smythe.

Nikita Kucherov

Even though Kucherov has 24 points (7 G, 17 A) in 19 playoff games, and still flashes brilliance, he is not as consistently dominant as he was in last season’s run to the Stanley Cup.

If the Lightning are going to rally to win the series, they need a monster performance from Kucherov the rest of the way. If Kucherov puts up, say, 10 points in the next four games, maybe he would overtake the favored Avalanche players.

Valeri Nichushkin

An underrated winger who is an outstanding two-way player, Nichushkin has three goals and an assist with 11 shots on goal in the first two games of the Final.

While that gives him 13 points (8 G, 5 A) in 16 playoff games, he still has to overcome quite a bit if he is going to win the Conn Smythe. Nevertheless, he is now on the board among the leaders when he was not a week ago.

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