Finals and Stanley Cup MVPs

Photo credit: Santeri Viinamäki

Hockey and basketball are done for the season. Today, we'll see if the MVP Chase was in agreement with the NHL playoffs MVP and the NBA Finals MVP selections. Plus, we'll see how the NHL and NBA playoffs affect the Century's Greatest Coaches rankings.

Conn Smythe Trophy (most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs)

The NHL's Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the player most valuable to his team throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs, not just the Finals. It is possible, then, for a player not on the Cup-winning team to win the award. That's happened six times, most recently last year. I, however, did not follow the proceedings that season.

I determined who (probably) ought to win the Smythe based on these criteria:

• The number of games a skater's points plus +/- is equal to or greater than 2 in a victory.

• The number of games a goalie allows two or fewer goals in a victory.

This is what I determined:

1. Sam Bennett (C), Panthers 12 

2. Sergei Bobrovsky (G), Panthers 12

3. Leon Draisaitl (C), Oilers 11

4. Connor McDavid (C), Oilers 10

5. Carter Verhaeghe (C), Panthers 9 

6. Brad Marchand (LW), Panthers 9 

7. Matthew Tkachuck (W), Panthers 8

8. Anton Lundell (C), Panthers 8

9. Evan Bouchard (C), Oilers 7

10. Eetu Laurostarinen (C), Panthers 6

Sergei Bobrovsky did a great job in the net, allowing two or fewer goals in three-quarters of the sixteen games a team needs to win the Cup. HOWEVER, the Panthers scored FIVE goals or more in THIRTEEN of those victories, and ten games were won by three-goal margins or more. In the Finals, Bobrovsky allowed four goals or more three times, and the Panthers were 1-2 in those games.

Sam Bennett would have gotten my vote for the Smythe (and he did indeed win it). He had a substantially greater number of MVP-worthy games (12) than the next Panther skaters (9).

NBA Finals MVP

The NBA Finals MVP is determined by a point system in which the top eight players are ranked: the best player receives 8 points, and the eighth player receives 1 point. The ranking is based on the player's Game Score plus +/-. As it takes four games to win the Finals, the most MVP points a player can earn is 32, and only if he was the best player in all four victories.

There's a theoretical chance a player on the losing team can win the Finals MVP if it's a 7-game series. He would have to be the best player in all three wins for his team (24 points), and the Finals-winning team alternates who their best players were in their four victories.

That did not happen this year, as the Thunder beat the Pacers four games to two. Here are the final NBA Finals MVP Chase standings. 

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder 28

2. Jalen Williams, Thunder, 25

3. Alex Caruso, Thunder, 21

4. Chet Holmgren, Thunder, 19

5. Luguerntz Dort, Thunder, 14

6. Andres Wiggins, Thunder, 13

7. Obi Toppin, Pacers, 13

8. Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers 11

9. Bennedict Mathurin, Pacers 10

10. Pascal Siakam, Pacers, 10

Shai did win the official award, capping off one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history.

Greatest Coaches Update

My Greatest Coaches of the 21st Century (across NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB) featured coaches who won at least one championship. They were ranked by number of championships and then by the number of semifinal appearances.

I made one exception. Pete DeBoer, who was still the coach of the Dallas Stars when the list was published, has not won a title. However, he had made seven semifinals, which only four other coaches had done, and that warranted his elevation over the 53 coaches with one title and not nearly so many semifinals. Since publication, DeBoer achieved his eighth semifinal, a feat only three have accomplished, but he lost in the Conference Finals and was fired. When I update the list next year, I will keep him in the same spot: behind all the 2x title winners and ahead of all the 1x winners.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice got his 6th semifinal and 2nd title. This moves him up from the 16th to the 9-12 range, among coaches of identical achievement.

Rod Brind'Amour, in his seventh season as a head coach (all with the Hurricanes), made his third semifinal appearance in 2025 and has no titles; he won't be on the list when it's updated next year (after the World Series and Super Bowl). Neither will Edmonton's Kris Knoblauch,  who made and lost the Finals in both of his seasons as head coach.

The Thunder's Mark Daigneault won his first championship last night and has two semifinals under his belt. He will need another title or two more semifinals to join the club. Indiana's Rick Carlisle, the Finals loser, now has his 5th semifinal appearance to go along with one previous championship, and will move up four or so spots (depending on what happens in football and baseball). Tom Thibodeau, recently fired by the Knicks, reached his second semifinal in 2025. So did Minnesota's Chris Finch. 

In next year's list, we'll see Maurice and Carlisle ranked higher and DeBoer staying where he is. 

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