NHL futures: Who is a longshot selection to skate away with the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy?

The Conn Smythe Trophy almost always is given to a player from the team that wins the Stanley Cup, as only six members of the club that loses in the Stanley Cup Final has received the award since its inception in 1965. The majority of the time, the leading scorer or goaltender from the championship winner earns the prize.

Those trends would indicate that Mitchell Marner or Carter Hart will win the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy if the Vegas Golden Knights capture their second Stanley Cup in four years. Should the Carolina Hurricanes prevail for the first time since 2006, Taylor Hall and Frederik Andersen are in line for the award.

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A pending free agent who was sent to Vegas by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a sign-and-trade deal last June, Marner is having the best postseason of his career. The 29-year-old right wing leads the NHL with 21 points through three rounds and recorded a natural hat trick -- his first career three-goal performance in the playoffs -- during a four-point effort against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of the second round.

Hart has been steady if not spectacular in net for the Golden Knights. The 27-year-old is fourth in the league with a .924 save percentage, has posted a 2.22 goals-against average and has surrendered more than two goals just once during his current six-game winning streak.

The 2018 Hart Trophy winner while with the New Jersey Devils, Hall tops the Hurricanes in both assists (11) and points (16). The 34-year-old left wing began the postseason with a six-game point streak and has landed on the score sheet in nine of Carolina's 13 contests, posting five multi-point performances.

Andersen had one of the worst regular seasons of his 13-year career, going just 16-14-5 with an .874 save percentage while earning fewer starts than first-year netminder Brandon Bussi. But Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour gave Andersen the nod in the postseason, and the 36-year-old Dane has not disappointed as he leads the NHL with a 1.41 GAA and three shutouts while ranking third in save percentage (.931).

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NHL futures odds at the major sports betting sites see Marner as the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, with odds in the +150 to +185 range. Andersen is the second favorite, priced between +200 and +250, while Hall is third with odds from +600 to +700.

Logan Stankoven, who is third in the league with a team-high nine goals, is fourth at around +875 and Hart is fifth at about +1175. However, there's one other player with longer odds that should be considered when wagering on the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Longshot Pick: Jack Eichel (+1700, FanDuel)

Many thought Eichel should have received the Conn Smythe Trophy three years ago, when he was the postseason leader with 26 points as the Golden Knights won the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. But he lost out to teammate Jonathan Marchessault, who finished with one fewer point but scored three game-winning goals in the 2023 playoffs and concluded that postseason with a 10-game point streak.

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Eichel enters the 2026 Stanley Cup Final second in the league with 18 points. The 29-year-old center has scored only two goals, but he tops all players with 16 assists and, like Marner, has landed on the score sheet in 11 of Vegas' 16 games this postseason.

Along with teammate Noah Hanifin (and Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin), Eichel is looking to win both Olympic gold and a Stanley Cup in the same year for the first time since Jeff Carter and blue-liner Drew Doughty accomplished the feat in 2014 with Team Canada and the Los Angeles Kings. Eichel, Hanifin and Slavin all were members of the United States' gold medal-winning squad at the 2026 Winter Games this past February.

Eichel also hopes to join Boston Bruins teammates Dallas Smith and Ted Green (1970, 1972), as well as Sam Reinhart of the 2024 and 2025 Florida Panthers, as the only players in NHL history to win multiple Cups after missing the playoffs each of their first seven seasons in the league. Selected second overall by Buffalo in the 2015 NHL Draft, Eichel did not qualify for the postseason during his six-year tenure with the Sabres or in his first campaign with Vegas after being traded in November 2021.

A four-time All-Star, Eichel certainly has been trying to score goals this postseason as he is tied with teammate Pavel Dorofeyev for 10th in the league with 42 shots. Dorofeyev has had better fortune, however, as he shares the playoff lead in goals (10) with fellow Golden Knights forward Brett Howden.

Eichel has matched Marner with six multi-point performances in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He recorded at least two points in three of the five Stanley Cup Final games three years ago, so it's not absurd to think he can come up with a similar effort against the Hurricanes and take home the Conn Smythe some believed he deserved in 2023 should the Golden Knights win the championship.

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