While most bettors have their focus fully on the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup, a futures bet that’s flying under the radar — and still rich with value — is the Conn Smythe Trophy winner. This individual award is given to the best player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, or in most cases, the best player on the Cup-winning team. Before the Finals begin on June 15, let’s break down this bet and offer our own pick to win the trophy!
Before we go to that, let’s take a peek at the current betting odds, set by the most popular NHL betting sites. These players are currently the top betting favorites to be named the Conn Smythe Trophy recipient:
| Player |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Cale Makar | +175 | +175 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | +200 | +200 |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | +400 | +400 |
| Nikita Kucherov | +400 | +400 |
| Mikko Rantanen | +1600 | +1600 |
| Steven Stamkos | +1600 | +1600 |
| Victor Hedman | +2000 | +2000 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | +2000 | +2000 |
2022 NHL Conn Smythe Trophy Betting Picks
Alright, we’re going to give you multiple Conn Smythe Trophy betting picks and our rationale behind each. However, we’re listing these players in order of confidence level (from most high to less high). If you have the betting bankroll, you can put money on each pick. However, if you’d rather maximize profit (but up the risk), then just bet our most confident selection, which is this next player:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Alright, first thing is first: before you pick a Conn Smythe winner, you must first pick a Stanley Cup winner. Because this award isn’t going to someone on the losing team — it’s just not. In the trophy’s 56-year history, only five times did it go to a player that failed to win the Stanley Cup (Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the last to do so in 2003). With that said, we’re picking Tampa Bay to three-peat as Stanley Cup champions on the back of its goaltender, who is our favorite Conn Smythe Trophy pick.
You see, the Avalanche and Lightning are very level teams across thoe board — except on the net. Vasilevskiy is arguably the best in the world at goaltending. Colorado, meanwhile, hasn’t picked a starter between Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz. We’re fully of the belief that Vasilevskiy heroics will be the difference-maker in this series. If that’s the case, then it would cement his Conn Smythe Trophy chances (it would be his second straight win).
This has been, without question, Tampa Bay’s toughest path to the Stanley Cup during this three-year run. Toronto and Florida, who the Lightning had to dispatch first, were both championship contenders based on odds at the top-rated online sportsbooks. This difficult path is perhaps best measured by this stat: seven of Tampa’s 12 postseason victories so far have come via one goal. And amid this, Vasilevskiy has maintained an impressive .928 save percentage.
While we believe the Avalanche will be the Lightning’s toughest Stanley Cup foe yet, we’re betting that Vasilevskiy steps up to the challenge — like he seemingly always does. His somewhat steep +400 betting price only sweetens this pick for us.
Cale Makar
For those that are in the camp that Colorado ends this Tampa dynasty, then the most obvious choice to win the Conn Smythe Trophy is either Makar or Nathan MacKinnon. But given both their odds right now, you can really only bet on one (a double-bet would eat too much profit to even make this wager worthwhile). In that case, we’re taking Makar just ever slightly.
At 22 points (five goals and 17 assists), Makar is Colorado’s leading scorer — which is four more than MacKinnon. Among both teams, only Nikita Kucherov has more points than Makar with 23. But creating scoring chances is only one feather in Makar’s cap. The other is stout defensive, which was a huge reason why Avalanche swept its Conference Finals opponents, Edmonton. Makar was a top-notch two-way player that helped slow down the Oilers’ Connor McDavid, who finished the postseason with an eye-popping 33 points.
Again, while we believe the Lightning is taking this series, if the Avalanche pull off the championship, it’ll most likely be from a herculean effort from Makar. He’s certainly capable of doing so, hence our pick here.
Nikita Kucherov
It’s not unthinkable to think an offensive explosion breaks out in the Stanley Cup Finals. While we’ve made our high opinions of Vasilevskiy known already, this series is loaded with offensive talents — and more might be on the way in the form of Brayden Point and Nazem Kadri, if the two return from injuries. If Vasilevskiy cracks but Tampa Bay still wins the Cup, then the obvious Conn Smyth recipient becomes Kucherov.
Kucherov has upped his playmaking ability more since Point went down with injury in the first round of the postseason. Whether it’s counter-attacking or power play, it feels like Kucherov is always behind Lightning scores. That probably won’t stop now, especially not against a Colorado team with iffy goaltending.
How To Bet On 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy?
You’ll want to jump on this 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy bet before Game 1 on Wednesday because odds will shift big time coming out of that matchup. Finding a reputable sportsbook to bet on is easy with the underneath table. We’ve listed the top sportsbooks below along with unbiased reviews and details on each’s bonus offers. Get on this soon!
About the Author
Eric is uniquely suited to be a writer for SBS. For one, he's a journalist by trade. Eric spent a large part of his career, covering sports — high school, college, and professional — for newspapers and online-based sites. However, Eric is a bettor himself too. He has first-hand experience hanging out in smoky sportsbooks and casinos, dealing with the ebbs and flows of gambling, and an understanding of how bookies operate. Both these unique qualities make him an expert bet picker for SBS. You'll also see Eric report on the sports betting industry as a whole.
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