The Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes battle tonight in Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final. With the championship round comes the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded annually to the most valuable player during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Projecting the Conn Smythe winner isn’t always easy, but it does make for a fun futures betting market. Odds are live on DraftKings Sportsbook for the award, so we’re diving in and taking a look at some of the best bets to bring home the hardware.
Best Conn Smythe Trophy Picks on DraftKings Sportsbook
First up, let’s take a look at the betting odds on DraftKings Sportsbook in the Conn Smythe winner market. The leaders are as follows, with the remainder of the field listed at +5000 odds or longer:
- Mitch Marner, VGK, F (+165)
- Frederik Andersen, CAR, G (+220)
- Taylor Hall, CAR, F (+600)
- Logan Stankoven, CAR, F (+850)
- Carter Hart, VGK, G (+1200)
- Jackson Blake, CAR, F (+1500)
- Jack Eichel, VGK, F (+1600)
Now, let’s dive in with the top picks to win the Conn Smythe.
Mitch Marner (+165)
We’d be remiss to start this off with anyone other than Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner. The former Toronto Maple Leaf headed to Vegas over the offseason and tallied 80 points (24G/56A) in 81 games during the regular season, good for second on the team but his fewest since the 2020-21 campaign. However, he was undoubtedly a productive player and has now stepped up his game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Besides, the latter is all we really care about for this award market. Marner has put forth an incredible postseason with 21 points in 16 games, good for the lead among all skaters who saw ice time in this postseason. He’s scored seven goals — including a natural hat trick — while dishing out 14 assists. With an average of 1.31 PPG, a pair of game-winning goals and a team-best +12 in +/-, Marner is deservingly the favorite among the field to win the Conn Smythe. However, a player from the losing team has only won the award five times in NHL history, so he likely need a Vegas victory as the underdogs to bring it home even despite his excellence.
Taylor Hall (+600)
In an ESPN article published prior to Game 1 that surveyed the actual Conn Smythe voters, Taylor Hall appeared on 56% of those hypothetical ballots. It seems he’s on the minds of the voters, who are surely expecting him to keep rolling in the Cup Final. The winger had just 48 points in the regular season (18G/30A) but is on an absolute heater with a team-best 16 points this postseason in 13 games. He’s also third in point production among all skaters in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, notching five goals with 11 assists for the Hurricanes. He’s playing on his team’s most productive forward line alongside Jackson Blake (15P) and Logan Stankoven (12P) and has a postseason pace of 1.23 PPG. Blake could challenge him since he’s only one point behind for the team lead, but Hall has been a monster at even strength with 14 of his points in such situations. With +600 odds, he brings a great blend of value and realistic chance to win the Conn Smythe, especially if Carolina wins the series as favored.
Jack Eichel (+1600)
Somehow, Vegas star Jack Eichel may be the best value pick among the field for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The center’s 90 points in the regular season (27G/63A) are indicative of his ceiling, and his 18 points this postseason are good for second out of all NHL skaters as well as second on his own team behind Marner. Now, Eichel’s finishing has dried up considerably with just two goals on a team-high 42 shots, good for a shooting percentage of just 4.8%. He’s still been productive with a playoff-best 16 assists and comes into the Stanley Cup Final as a +7, generating 12 even-strength points and six on the power play. What we see here is that even despite his poor shooting, Eichel is still making a massive impact as the distributor on the top forward line and power-play unit.
If he can finally find his form as a finisher to put the puck in the net a couple of times — the numbers indicate that he should, assuming positive regression strikes — he could potentially catch or surpass Marner in point production. He had 26 points in 22 games during the Golden Knights’ 2023 Cup run, so Eichel is incredible value as a long-shot pick.
