Carolina captain Jordan Staal was voted the 2026 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player in the playoffs following the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup-clinching 3-0 Game 6 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday evening in Las Vegas.
Staal, 37, had scored goals in five straight games coming into the deciding contest, tying a Stanley Cup Final record which had stood for 70 years.
He had six goals in the finals overall and two goals in previous rounds, which coupled with his four assists gave him 12 points during his team’s championship run.
Staal became the oldest player to ever win the award.
“I learned a lot about perseverance and trusting God,” Staal said in a postgame interview. “It’s been such a grind.
“I just wanted to win so bad.”
In his 14th season with the Hurricanes after six seasons with Pittsburgh, Staal totaled 36 points (20 goals) during the 2025-26 regular season.
The center won his second Stanley Cup, 17 years after his first. That gap marked the largest in NHL history.
“This is something I’ve been going after ever since we got the first one,” Staal said in the postgame broadcast. “You want to win it again and again and again.”
Selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, the Smythe award is named for former Toronto Maple Leafs coach, manager, president and owner-governor Conn Smythe.
The Florida Panthers’ Sam Bennett was the 2025 winner of the award. Prior to that in 2024, the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid became just the sixth player to ever win the award playing for the finals loser.
Previous notable winners include Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby — each of whom won the award twice) — Patrick Roy (the only three-time winner), Steve Yzerman and Alex Ovechkin.
