Who Are Most Recent NHL Conn Smythe Winners?

Carolina has won their first Stanley Cup since 2006 after a decisive 3-0 win over Vegas in Game 6. 

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman handed off the Cup to Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal on Sunday night. But that wasn’t the only hardware Staal received at the series conclusion. 

Staal became the oldest recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP. 

That win made Staal the fifth different winner of the trophy in the last five years. Here’s a look at what Staal did to get there and the other Conn Smythe winners over the last five seasons. 

Who Are Most Recent NHL Conn Smythe Winners?

2026 – Jordan Staal, C, Hurricanes

Across 19 games played in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Staal had eight goals, four assists, and a plus/minus rating of +6. 

Staal’s goals and overall point total were both career highs for the 18-year NHL veteran. He has also appeared in the playoffs 11 times in his career. His next best playoff runs were in 2019 and in 2009 on the Cup-winning Pittsburgh team. 

The captain’s presence was felt across the final series, especially when he contributed two goals to Carolina’s series-shifting Game 4 win. Staal had an all-time highlight in the previous game — a diving goal reminiscent of Bobby Orr — but the Hurricanes lost that one in overtime. 

Staal has two NHL records that bookend his career, he became the youngest player to score a hat trick in league history and now becomes the oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

After being drafted by the Penguins in 2006 and winning the Cup in 2009, Staal joined Carolina in 2012 via trade and was named captain of the team in 2019. Jordan’s older brother Eric was his teammate on the Hurricanes from 2012-2016. Eric was a part of Carolina’s last championship in 2006. 

2025 – Sam Bennett, C, Panthers

Florida center Sam Bennett received the Conn Smythe Trophy after playing a major role in the Panthers’ 2025 Stanley Cup win. 

In 23 games played in the 2025 playoffs, Bennett had 15 goals and 22 points overall. He beat out Sam Reinhart by four goals to lead the team in scoring. 

Bennett had five goals in the Stanley Cup Finals series against Edmonton, including two goals in Florida’s overtime loss in Game 1. 

The voting for that year’s Conn Smythe Trophy was pretty close. The PWHA voters gave 111 out of 18 first-place votes to Bennett, but his teammate Brad Marchand received seven first-place votes and 11 second-place votes. 

Bennett was drafted fourth overall in the 2014 entry draft by the Flames. He became one of the foundational pieces of the Panthers two-time Cup-winning team after he was traded to Florida in 2021. A season later Bennett was reunited with his former Calgary teammate Matthew Tkachuk, who had been drafted by the Flames two seasons after Bennett. 

2024 – Connor McDavid, C, Oilers

Connor McDavid became the sixth player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy on a team that lost in the Stanley Cup Final. The most recent player to do that had been Jean-Sebastian Giguere on the Anaheim Ducks in 2003. 

Although the Conn Smythe Trophy is technically an award that encompasses the entirety of a player’s playoff performance, the award is typically given to a player that wins the Cup. 

With McDavid’s performance in the entirety of the 2024 playoffs he earned the Trophy. McDavid had 42 points in 25 games played with eight goals and 34 assists. His assist total was the most for any player in a single playoff run and his overall points total was the fourth most. 

McDavid, kind of infamously, refused to return to the ice to accept the Trophy after his Oilers team had just lost to the Panthers in Game 7 of the Finals. 

Following the game, McDavid was a step below ecstatic about winning the trophy saying, “Yeah, obviously, I guess it’s an honor.”

McDavid was an almost unanimous selection for the Conn Smythe Trophy, with Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky receiving one vote. 

It makes sense that McDavid, who’s viewed as either one of the greatest players of all time or the greatest player of all time, has a Conn Smythe win on his resume. It’s just a little bit depressing that it came in a losing effort. 

But, honestly, that’s fitting for the story of McDavid’s career thus far. 

2023 – Jonathan Marchessault, RW, Golden Knights

Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe Trophy after being a major part of the Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup for the first time as a franchise. 

Marchessault had a league-leading 13 goals through 22 games played in that playoff run. He also contributed 12 assists and had a +17 plus/minus rating. 

He became the first undrafted player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy since 1988, when Wayne Gretzky won. 

Marchessault was a major piece in both of Vegas’ first two runs to the Stanley Cup. Marchessault was drafted from the Panthers in the Knights 2017 expansion draft. He had eight goals and 13 assists on Vegas’ run to the Finals in 2018. 

2022 – Cale Makar, D, Avalanche

The only defenseman on this to win the Conn Smythe in the last five years was Colorado’s Cale Makar. 

Makar had an incredible breakout performance in the Avalanche’s run towards its third Stanley Cup win as a franchise. Just two years prior, Makar had won the Calder Trophy and earlier in 2022 had won the Norris Trophy. 

The Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup added two more pieces of hardware to Makar’s still-young career. 

Makar had eight goals and 21 assists in 20 games played in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He also had a +7 plus/minus rating. 

He was drafted fourth overall in the 2017 entry draft. Makar then spent two seasons in college with the UMass Minutemen and won the Hobey Baker Award in 2019 for being the top player in college hockey.