Is the single-season playoff goal record in trouble?
Only two non-goalies in NHL history have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as a member of the losing squad: Connor McDavid in 2024 and Reggie Leach in 1976.
Leach, the “Riverton Riffle,” won post-season MVP honours on the strength of firing 19 goals for the Philadelphia Flyers squad that dropped the final to the Montreal Canadiens.
Nine years later, a 25-year-old Finn named Jari Kurri equalled Leach’s record total with 19 tallies in the 1985 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as the Edmonton Oilers claimed a second straight title. While Kurri obviously had a strong Conn Smythe case that season, the award ultimately landed with his linemate Wayne Gretzky, thanks to No. 99’s 17 goals and — wait for it — playoff-record 47 points.
Nearly 40 years on, it’s still unlikely the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs will produce a sniper with equal — or greater — output to Leach and Kurri. That said, a few guys are filling the net at a rate we’ve not seen in some time.
When Zach Hyman netted 16 goals in the 2024 post-season, he became the first player to register a total that high since Joe Sakic had 18 in 1996. As it stands right now, we’ve got a few guys who are candidates to become the first 17-goal springtime scorer since “Burnaby Joe.”
It’s tough to see anyone dethroning Leach and Kurri given the level of competition only goes up from here, but you never know with the way these guys are going.
Of course, our Conn Smythe power ranking consists of more than just goal-scorers. With that in mind, here’s our list of the top MVP contenders at the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ halfway point.
(Here’s our regular reminder that the ranking we do after each round does not consider how likely a player is to be playing in the final. It’s an evaluation of performance to this point).
1. Logan Stankoven, Carolina Hurricanes
It’s hard to argue with seven goals in eight outings. And it’s not like Stankoven buried two hat tricks and twiddled his thumbs the rest of the time. The Canes centre has netted goals in six of his team’s eight contests, and four of his tallies have come at five-on-five in a tie game.
It’s a spring run 10 years in the making. Marner closed Rd. 1 with a two-goal, three-point outing in the contest that eliminated Utah, then kept the ball rolling with five goals in six games versus Anaheim to give him 14 points in his past seven outings overall. The return of William Karlsson to Vegas’ lineup allowed Marner — the playoff leader with 18 points — to kick out to the wing against the Ducks and he’s absolutely thriving there.
3. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
After failing to score in his first three 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff games, MacKinnon has found the net in six straight contests. The only players this century to put together longer goal streaks in a single post-season are MacKinnon’s teammate Valeri Nichushkin (seven games in 2024) and Tampa’s Brayden Point (nine games in 2021). The record is 10 by Reggie Leach during that 1976 MVP showing.
No goalie in the final four has been more central to his team’s success than Dobes. The Habs rookie has yet to lose consecutive games this spring through 14 contests and came up huge not once, but twice for Montreal in Game 7, road victories that would not have happened without the big Czech’s clutch play.
The diminutive Canadiens blue-liner is playing on a stage big enough to show everybody in the hockey world what he can do. At 22, Hutson is a point-per-game defenceman (two goals and 14 points in 14 outings) through two rounds and leads the post-season in total ice time.
Marner is piling up the points and Dorofeyev is racking up the goals, but Eichel is still in the middle of everything Vegas does. The Knights’ No. 1 pivot leads the playoffs in assists (14) and has only been held off the scoresheet in two of Vegas’s 12 contests.
7. Taylor Hall, Carolina Hurricanes
A first-overall pick 16 years ago and Hart Trophy winner eight years back, you have to think this is the most fun Hall has ever had in the NHL. The 34-year-old winger’s 1.50 points-per-game this spring is tied with Marner for the highest mark in the playoffs. It’s safe to say Hall has found his hockey home in Carolina.
8. Brett Howden, Vegas Golden Knights
Sure, Howden is likely to regress from his playoff-best shooting percentage of 40 per cent. Still, eight goals is eight goals, and Howden is just the fourth player in league post-season history to have at least three shorthanded strikes in 12 or fewer games. If he nets one more shorty this spring, Howden will hold the NHL record.
9. Pavel Dorofeyev, Vegas Golden Knights
What a time to be in line for a new contract! Dorofeyev was always going to get paid after posting back-to-back regular-season totals of 35 and 37 goals, but this springtime showing — he leads the NHL with nine tallies — is the cherry on top. His goals have come in clusters during the playoffs, with four in Games 4 and 5 versus Utah and five in the final three contests against the Ducks.
10. Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes
All you can do is make the saves you’re asked to. Andersen faced fewer than 100 total shots while playing every minute of Round 2 for his team (91 to be exact), but he saved 86 of them and has a playoff-best goals saved above expect/60 minutes mark of 1.250. With this much rest, it’s reasonable to expect the veteran Dane can keep rolling.
There have been two Game 7s in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Newfoundland’s favourite son (Yes b’y!) has scored the game-winner in both. Beyond the big-moment goals, Newhook has fired five more tallies and leads the Canadiens with seven through two rounds. Only Dorofeyev and Howden have scored more times than Newhook this spring.
Theodore netted five points in six second-round games and led the Golden Knights with a tick over 25 minutes of ice per game. His four goals are tied for the lead among defencemen this spring.
Stankoven between Blake and Hall has been the best line in the playoffs, producing nine goals in eight games. As it happens, Blake was the most productive member of that trio (and everybody else on Carolina) in Round 2, netting three goals and seven points in the four-game sweep of Philadelphia.
If you take out Game 1, when everybody on Colorado got their cookies in a 9-6 win over the Wild, Necas tied MacKinnon for the Round 2 scoring lead with six points in the four remaining games versus Minny. The big winger is heating up, right alongside his aforementioned centre.