After the Carolina Hurricanes evened the series against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, the Stanley Cup remains completely up for grabs between the two teams. However, the Conn Smythe Trophy seems to currently be secured by Mitch Marner, regardless of which team wins in the end.

There are still cases to be made for a few Hurricanes players in these final games, if they can make a great impact to lead their team to glory.

Staal has been the Canes’ best player in the final against Vegas. He has five goals in the four games thus far, including two in Game 4’s victory. As the captain of the team, he is leading by example as his team continues in this dogfight with the Golden Knights, and because of his stellar performance when it matters most, he could find himself as the Conn Smythe recipient if his team wins the Cup. Before this round, Staal had two goals and five points in 13 games.

Andersen was one of the favourites for the Conn Smythe heading into the final, but with the team’s decision to healthy scratch him in Game 4, his stocks have definitely fallen. His return could come as soon as Game 5, as the decision to not play him was just to rest him, but he would need to jump right back into his 12-1-0 record and .922 save percentage that led the Hurricanes to this point, if he wants to still remain in consideration for the trophy.

Hall was another leading candidate for the award, but he has had just one point through the first four games of this series. In order to have his name thrown back in the hat, he would need to have some clutch performances over the next two games.

Despite his falloff in the final so far, he is still tied for third in playoff scoring. He has six goals and 18 points through 17 games, 17 of which came in the first 13 games of the postseason, as the Canes went 12-1-0. Hall’s production has been a key piece of the Hurricanes’ 14-3-0 run.

Marner is the lead candidate overall, and because of that, he is the only candidate for Vegas. He has undisputedly been the best player of the playoffs this year, and his redemption story makes the idea of him winning the trophy for best playoff performer even sweeter.

His 29 points lead the playoffs by nine, with the next highest scorer being his teammate Jack Eichel. In Game 3, he recorded the fastest natural hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history, and leads the series with eight points. If Vegas wins it all, there is almost no doubt that Marner will be the recipient of the 2026 Conn Smythe. Even if they lose, he is still the leading candidate for the award.

Gabe Landeskog had known for a while that he would be the 2026 recipient of the Mark Messier Award, awarded to the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader.

On Tuesday, a video was released of him finding out that he had also won the Bill Masterton Trophy for his demonstrated qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. This came following a three-year journey to return as captain to the Colorado Avalanche.

The award was presented to him by his wife and three children as he was under the perception that he was just filming a video for being the Mark Messier Trophy recipient. According to his wife, Landeskog immediately “welled up,” as he saw his family walk towards him with the trophy.

“When you handed me the iPad and people were talking about resilience and my journey, it still didn’t really clue in,” Landeskog said, after he received heartfelt messages from his neuromuscular physiology specialist Dr. Matthew Jordan, teammates Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, father Tony, and wife Melissa.

“I’d be lying if I told you that the Masterton hadn’t crossed my mind,” he said. “The amount of people that have helped me along the way, and especially my family… You get nowhere in this life by yourself, you truly don’t. I am very appreciative, and this is for all of them as well.”

After winning the Stanley Cup in 2022, Landeskog missed three seasons recovering from multiple knee surgeries, including a cartilage transplant. His father said many thought he would never play in the NHL again.

His return to the NHL included 60 games, a Presidents’ Trophy for the Avs, 12 goals and 35 points – now adding the Messier and Masterton awards. In the playoffs, he notched 6 goals and 11 points in 13 games before the Avs were eliminated by the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final.