Tim Thomas should earn Conn Smythe

Each year, the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just like in the regular season with the Player Power Rankings, Hockey Prospectus will use its metric analysis to measure which postseason player is most deserving of the coveted award.

These rankings are based on player production in terms of Hockey Prospectus' GVT valuation metric. This is not a subjective evaluation of these players. If you are unfamiliar with GVT and how it works, you can find more here.

Should the Vancouver Canucks win the Stanley Cup tonight, we could very well see a rarity -- a member of the losing team claiming the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. Based on GVT, Bruins goalie Tim Thomas towers over other Conn Smythe contenders in such a way that it should provide serious pause to anyone thinking the award should go to a member of the winning team just because that has so often been the case. Only once since 1987 has a player from the losing team won the award, Jean Sebastien Giguere in 2003. Could it happen again? Thomas certainly looks like a deserving candidate.

To see how all the postseason players stack up as the Cup finals near their conclusion, you must be an ESPN Insider.

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