NHL should honor Red Wings great by renaming Conn Smythe trophy

Ted LindsayThis clearly will not be a priority for the NHLPA as it approaches summer collective bargaining talks with the league in advance of September’s mutual opt-outs. There are, after all, serious economic and systemic issues to negotiate.

But one way for the union to honor the memory of the great Ted Lindsay and its own history is to insist on changing the name of the playoff MVP award. This most certainly should be part of the Players Association’s ancillary quality-of-life agenda.

It is time to remove the name of Conn Smythe — the tyrannical Maple Leafs owner who did everything in his considerable power to undercut the formation of the players’ association in the mid-1950s and emerged…