2022 Stanley Cup playoffs: How the Conn Smythe Trophy will be won

Have we ever discussed how the Conn Smythe Trophy might be the NHL's weirdest award?

Let's start with the hardware itself. In 1964, the trophy was donated to the NHL by Maple Leaf Gardens, to be awarded to the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP and as a bauble to honor Hockey Hall of Fame-inducted builder Conn Smythe. For all the kvetching about Toronto's place as the "Centre of the Hockey Universe," the playoff MVP award (A) honors a former Maple Leafs owner and (B) is a scaled recreation of Maple Leaf Gardens and (C) features "a large silver botanically accurate maple leaf."

How did so many Montreal Canadiens players touch this thing without their skin bubbling, like a vampire touching a cross?

It's…