Defeated, Oilers’ Connor McDavid wins Conn Smythe Trophy

SUNRISE, Fla. – Connor McDavid won a trophy in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers. But not the one he wanted to win.

The Edmonton Oilers were beaten by the Florida Panthers 2-1 to end their miraculous return to the Stanley Cup Final, having forced a seventh game after trailing 3-0 in the series – only the third team in NHL history to accomplish this feat. In leading this comeback and having a record-breaking postseason, McDavid was announced as the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2024 playoffs.

McDavid is the sixth player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe for a team that lost in the Stanley Cup Final. He is only the second skater after Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers, named Most Valuable Player in 1976. The other winners were all goaltenders who lost in the final: Jean-Sébastien Giguère of Anaheim in 2003, Ron Hextall of Philadelphia in 1987, Glenn Hall of St. Louis in 1968 and Roger Crozier of Detroit in 1966.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced McDavid as the Conn Smythe winner, with the trophy placed atop a podium on the ice. He stood there as Panthers fans booed the selection. McDavid left for the Edmonton locker room and did not reappear to accept the award.

After the game, as the Panthers’ Cup celebration could be heard in the distance, a dejected McDavid briefly acknowledged the accomplishment.

“Yeah, obviously, I guess it’s an honor. With the names on that trophy. But… yeah,” he said.

McDavid won the Conn Smythe with one of the most dominant points by an individual player in NHL playoff history.

His 42 points are the fourth-most playoff points in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (47 in 1985 and 43 in 1988) and Mario Lemieux (44 in 1991), who both won the Conn Smythe during these seasons. His 11 points in the Stanley Cup Finals were two points shy of tying Wayne Gretzky’s Stanley Cup Final record with 13 in 1988. He had two consecutive four-point games in the Finals, the first player in NHL history to do it, by joining the Oilers.

But the crowning achievement of his postseason was breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for assists in a single postseason (31 in 1988) with 34 assists in 24 games.

“He’s the greatest player I’ve ever played, in my opinion,” teammate and friend Leon Draisaitl said after Game 7. “There’s so much that a lot of people don’t see that he does .His work ethic, he’s single-handedly turned our franchise around, I love sharing the ice with him, he’s just a really, really special person.

Draisaitl was asked about McDavid winning the MVP in a losing effort.

“I don’t think he cares,” Draisaitl said. “I mean, it shows what an amazing hockey player he is. There’s no player in the world that wants to win a Stanley Cup more than him. He does everything right, every day, just to win it one day. It’s It’s really hard to see him be sad and disappointed at the end.”

McDavid’s MVP performance dates back to the regular season, where he led the Oilers after an atrocious first 12 games (2-9-1) to rally for a playoff spot.

“Proud of the way we fought all year. Behind the ball almost immediately. We fought an uphill climb for months and months and months,” McDavid said. “(It) just… it sucks.”

McDavid went from 10 points in his first 11 games to 122 points in his next 65 games.

“You think about the year Connor had: 100 assists, he led our team, the performance he had in those playoffs, especially in that final round, when we were down three games to zero and he comes out with eight points in two games,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who also coached McDavid with the Erie Otters in junior hockey.

“Yes, he’s our leader. He’s our best player. Obviously everyone wanted to win it for the team and we obviously would like to do it (for) him, the captain of our team,” Knoblauch said. “I can’t say enough things about what he offers: the leadership and what he does on the ice.”

McDavid had a frustrating end to the playoffs, going scoreless in the final two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers captain praised the Panthers for the way they played in Game 7.

“We knew it was going to be a very close game and it would come down to one thing here and there. We came within an inch of taking a 2-1 lead right before they took a 2-1 lead,” did he declare. , referring to a bouncing puck that the Panthers cleared out of their territory before Sam Reinhart scored the game-winning goal in the second period. “They did a good job closing the doors. We had our looks. We just didn’t find them.”

It was the furthest McDavid had ever gotten in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, having established a “Cup or Bust” mentality for his team before the season.

In nine seasons, McDavid won five scoring titles, one scoring title, three Hart Trophies as the league’s Most Valuable Player and four-time NHLPA Player of the Year. Now he adds the Conn Smythe Trophy to that collection.

But not the Stanley Cup.

“We never stopped believing. We really believed we were going to get one. Lots of looks. It just didn’t work out,” McDavid said. “It sucks. …It sucks.”