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DETROIT — When the discussion yesterday turned to the Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Brendan Shanahan of the Detroit Red Wings asked, "Can Peter Forsberg still win it?" He was kidding, sort of, in the way that many a truth is told in jest.
With the Red Wings on the verge of winning the championship — they lead Carolina, 3-1, with Game 5 tomorrow night in Joe Louis Arena — it is likely that a Detroit player will win the trophy. Members of losing teams seldom win it (only four in 37 years) and it has never gone to a player whose team was eliminated before the finals, as Forsberg's Colorado Avalanche was this spring.
But you can make a case for Forsberg, just as you can for at least four Wings. After missing the regular season with a variety of ailments, Forsberg dominated many playoff games. He played a combative style and took his Avalanche to Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, where Colorado lost to Detroit.
Even Detroit fans, who love to disparage the Avalanche, expressed admiration for Forsberg, who still leads all postseason scorers with 27 points in 20 games. He was the best player in the playoffs. No player was more valuable to his team. The Wings were happy to see him go.
Assuming that the voters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association choose a Red Wing for the award, it comes down to four: Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom and Dominik Hasek. Yzerman leads his team in scoring with 21 points, most of them in the first two rounds, when he was at his best. A veteran captain with a damaged right knee, Yzerman has blended skill, determination and savvy to serve as an inspiration after moving from center to right wing. He won the Conn Smythe in 1998 when the Red Wings won their second straight Cup.
But Yzerman is not even the best player on his line. More valuable and effective, especially in the critical round against Colorado, was Fedorov, a center who has 18 points, tied with Brett Hull for second on the team. Fedorov plays the most minutes among forwards, skates better than anyone else on the team and mixes intense defensive effort with explosive playmaking, as he did when he set up Shanahan for a goal in a 3-0 victory in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday night.
When Yzerman was asked to discuss Fedorov yesterday, Fedorov playfully covered his ears. But everyone else heard Yzerman say: "He's played really hard and competed hard and his biggest asset is his ability to go get the puck and skate it down the ice. There are very few guys that can do that with the authority that he has. He's asserted himself more so in this playoff than any playoff he has been in."
Should the voters consider a defenseman, it will be Nicklas Lidstrom, the defending Norris Trophy winner and a candidate again this season. His 16 points lead all defensemen in the playoffs. Smooth, subtle and cerebral, he rarely wastes effort and seldom makes mistakes. He sets up or scores important goals, breaks up opposing rushes and leads the team in minutes. He worked 52 minutes 3 seconds in Detroit's 3-2 triple overtime victory Saturday. Defensemen rarely win the Conn Smythe, but deserving ones like Scott Stevens of the Devils (in 2000) and Brian Leetch of the Rangers (1994) have.
The voting usually favors a goalie. It's hard to win without good goaltending, and 12 of 37 winners have guarded the net. Hasek has set an N.H.L. record with six postseason shutouts. He has become stronger as the playoffs have progressed. He faced down Patrick Roy, the defending Conn Smythe winner, in the previous round. So why is he unlikely to win it?
For the same reason Fedorov and Lidstrom are dark horses and Yzerman, a Canadian, is not. The trophy has never gone to a European player. Hasek is from the Czech Republic, Fedorov from Russia and Lidstrom from Sweden, as is Forsberg. Only one American, Leetch, has won. The rest have been Canadian.
The Conn Smythe is named after the original Maple Leafs owner, who was — how can we say this politely? — a patriotic Canadian. The trophy bears the maple leaf, which also adorns the Canadian flag. Although no European journalists vote for the Conn Smythe, Canadians sure do, and there is much cultural pressure to keep honoring their countrymen. After Game 4 of the finals, on "Hockey Night in Canada," the commentator Don Cherry declared that Yzerman should win and showed highlights to back his claim. He showed no highlights of other candidates.
Some people dismiss Cherry as a jingoistic reactionary, but his words are important. In a sincere and unvarnished way, Cherry represents the ungoverned id of Canadian hockey, with all its defensive pride and insecurity, the sort of attitude Wayne Gretzky displayed at the recent Olympic tournament — won by a fine Canadian team. Of course, the voting is subjective. So is this column. Whoever receives the Conn Smythe will be a deserving winner.
ps. Itse olen Fedorovin kannalla