Conn Smythe Trophy Conversations: Jack Eichel

Vegas Golden Knight forward has 22 points in the Stanley Cup playoffs with league-leading 16 assists. He also leads the way with his strong defensive play.

The Conn Smythe Conversations are a brief overview of a case being made for a player winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, if the Vegas Golden Knights win the series. Today, we look at the case for Jack Eichel.

On paper, Jack Eichel is having an amazing first run in the Stanely Cup Playoffs. He is second alongside Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk in points this postseason (22) and leads in assists with 16.

The thing, however, that has stood out about Eichel’s play is his defensive performance. Eichel is playing some of the best defense he’s played in his career this postseason. He’s plus-13 this postseason, tied with fellow lineman Ivan Barbashev and behind Jonathan Marchessault (plus-16).

"We've talked all year about his 200-foot game. He's been excellent," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "From Day One, he bought into training camp, how we want to defend in our end, so there's just a lot of closing responsibilities for the centermen, and with his speed and size and strength and good stick, he's been real good at it. His reloads are excellent. He's caught I don't know how many plays this year from behind.”

Centers have won playoff MVP 19 times with the last one being St. Louis’s Ryan O’Reilly in 2019.

O’Reilly had 23 points for the Stanley Cup winner, meaning Eichel is one point away from matching O’Reilly. O’Reilly had eight goals and 15 assists during this MVP run.

The knock, however, against Eichel is the lack of goal scoring. He hasn’t scored a goal since May 12 against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round. It’s hard to be a playoff MVP without scoring goals.

Instead, Eichel’s case will be placed upon how well he’s played throughout the postseason. Out of 16 playoff games, he’s failed to tally a point in five of them.

Will Eichel be named Conn Smythe Trophy award winner? It will be difficult without scoring goals, but if he can heat up in the final games of the season by scoring goals and lead the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup, the trophy will be his.