How close was Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal to unanimously winning Conn Smythe?

The Carolina Hurricanes had their backs against the wall in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, but they won the last three games to take the series in six games. Rod Brind’Amour and company capped off their first title run since 2006 with a dominant 3-0 win in Game 6 in Vegas on Sunday night.

After the series wrapped up, Carolina captain Jordan Staal was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. He ran away with the award thanks to a monster series against Vegas where he scored six goals and notched an assist. Staal found the back of the net at least once in each of the first five games of the series.

Staal nearly won the Conn Smythe in a unanimous vote, earning 17 of the 21 first-place votes. Forward Taylor Hall earned the other four, and all four of those voters had Staal as the second-place finisher.

For the playoffs, Staal finished with 12 points after scoring eight goals with four assists. The Canes were a plus-six when he was on the ice and he was a big part of their efforts on both ends of the ice, all while patrolling the neutral zone.

Hall earned four votes despite a quieter Stanley Cup Final after a dominant postseason that saw him record 19 points with a team-high plus-14 plus-minus. The winger was one of the best goal-producers in all of hockey in these playoffs, and Brind’Amour and company may not have gotten to this point without him.

Vegas star Mitch Marner got a trio of third-place votes and one second-place vote after a huge postseason where he finished with 19 points in total over 22 games. His second-period hat trick in Game 3 of the Cup Final set multiple records, but he did not score a goal and recorded just one point over the final three games of the series, all losses.

Goaltending sensation Brandon Bussi also got one third-place vote with a number of other Hurricanes players ending up on ballots. In the end, it was the captain who was fittingly honored as the best player in these playoffs.

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