Don Cherry names his frontrunner for the Conn Smythe.

The National Hockey League still has one award that has yet to be determined this season and that is of course the Conn Smythe trophy, handed out each year to the league's most valuable player during the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season it has come down to just 2 rosters, that of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars, so of course we will be selecting a winner from one of those 2 teams. 

There are a number of candidates who could be in the running, players like forward Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning or his fellow Lightning forward Brayden Point, Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, or even Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevski but according to veteran NHL anaylst Don Cherry there is a clear frontrunner in the group.

So who does Cherry believe is currently the leading candidate to be the league's playoff MVP? Dallas Stars backup goaltender Anton Khudobin. What a story it would be if Khudobin, a goaltender that is supposed to serve as the backup to Ben Bishop, would go on to win the award for the most valuable player and the crazy part is it is not that far fetched. Khudobin has been outstanding for the Stars thus far in these playoffs and has even earned himself the nickname "Khudini" to describe the magical performances he has had in goal thus far. 

Correct me if I am wrong here but I believe it would also be the first time that a player who hails from the nation of Kazakhstan would claim the award in the NHL, which would be pretty special in its own right. Of course the Stars will have to win the series in order for that to happen, and the Lightning will no doubt have something to say about that.