Patrick Kane for Conn Smythe. The Right Call?



Patrick Kane is your 2013 Conn Smythe Trophy winner. The question is, was he the right choice?
Personally, I like to look at the individual numbers from Cup Finals and give them a little more weight when selecting a Conn Smythe winner. Below are the numbers from the Finals only:

(GP-G-A-PTS +/-)
Lucic 6-4-2-6 -1
Kane 6-3-2-5 +3
Krejci 6-0-5-5 -1
Bergeron 6-4-0-4 -2
Paille 6-2-2-4 +1
Bickell 6-1-3-4 +5
Chara 6-1-3-4 -5
Frolik 6-0-4-4 +1
Sharp 6-2-0-2 -3
Toews 6-0-2-2 +4
Keith 6-0-2-2 +4
Marchand 6-0-0-0 -3

 And the goaltenders (W-L-GAA-SvPct)


Crawford     4-2 2.07 .929
Rask             2-4 2.21 .932

Kane did indeed tally five points in the final and ended up with 19 points, good for second place in playoff scoring. Those 19 points tied Milan Lucic who led the final round with 4 goals and 6 points. In my opinion however the Hawks true most valuable player, and therefore the should-be Conn Smythe winner was goaltender Corey Crawford.

Even considering his Game Five display when he seemed to be playing with two blockers (a game the Hawks still won despite the 5 goals against), Crawford still posted a 2.07 GAA for the final series. In a series and a playoff in general where defence reigned supreme, Crawford kept Chicago in games when they were being outplayed and made the big save when called upon.

I would have even selected Defenceman Duncan Keith over Kane as far as valuable Hawks went, but in the end the Trophy should have gone to Crawford. 


    ------


Veteran Jaromir Jagr put up a rather strange and rare scoring line over the course of the playoffs. In 22 games he tallied 10 assists and zero goals. He is only the fourth forward in NHL history to have at least 10 helpers while not scoring a goal. Expectedly more defencemen have done this than forwards, still Jagr is only the tenth man to do this.  They are listed below by (GP-Assists)

Mark Howe 1989 19-15
Niklas Kronwall 2008 22-15
Larry Robinson 1986 20-13
Alex Delvecchio 1966 12-11
Tomas Kaberle 2011 25-11
Mike Ridley 1992  7-11
Mario Tremblay 1980 10-11
Jordan Leopold 2004  26-10
Sandis Ozolinsh 1994 14-10
Jaromir Jagr 2013  22-10

           ------

In a losing effort, Boston's Nathan Horton achieved something not seen in almost 30 years. His +20 plus/minus rating is the highest in the NHL playoffs since 1985 and ties for the fifth highest ever.

Wayne Gretzky 1985  +28
Paul Coffey 1985   +26
Jari Kurri 1985   +24
Paul Coffey 1984  +21
Nathan Horton 2013 +20
Charlie Huddy 1985  +20


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