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Apr 9, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) skates against the Buffalo Sabres during the third period at the American Airlines Center. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

This Dallas Stars player is making strong case to win Conn Smythe

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 5/20/24

As we get deeper into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and fewer teams remain in the race, the odds of who could win the Conn Smythe become more clear. Is there a sleeper pick that is more worthy of his MVP candidacy than meets the eye?

Yardbarker took a look in the second round at the top five favorites at DraftKings to win the Conn Smythe, taking a good look at whether those players deserved those short odds. We agreed that Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger is a worthy favorite to win the award— his odds have, as we predicted, gotten shorter since the Stars have advanced to the Western Conference Final. However, the netminder has a young teammate with slightly longer odds of becoming MVP that we would like to see get a little more attention.

Enter, Wyatt Johnston. The second-year center who just turned 21 years old.

He may be listed at DraftKings at 12-1 odds of winning the award for best player in this year's playoffs, but he is actually a sneaky pick that more people should be watching as the Western Conference Final draws near.

— Liam McHugh (@liam_mchugh) May 8, 2024

Sure, this isn't the first outlet to suggest Johnston has a better chance at winning the Conn Smythe than his odds entail. The Hockey News has been singing his praises for a while and Fansided noted that his odds of winning the award shortened after he recorded 11 points (seven goals, four assists) through 13 Stars playoff games.

There are still four players confirmed to be playing in the conference finals that have shorter odds than he does. (Five if you include Connor McDavid at +900 even though the Edmonton Oilers aren't confirmed to be going to the Western Conference Final.) Thanks to catching fire once the playoffs got underway, however, Johnston is garnering plenty of attention regardless of his standing with oddsmakers.

Daily Faceoff notes that the star power on opposing rosters — McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, etc — keeps Johnston in the sleeper category, but that he's making a case to overcome that.

"As unusual as it may seem to list a guy coming off a 65-point season next to those great players, Johnston fully deserves that recognition right now," the site said. "He’s at a level of dominance typically reserved only for guys going on career-defining runs, like Danny Briere in 2010, Marian Gaborik in 2014, or, more recently, Jonathan Marchessault last spring."

ESPN's Ryan S. Clark noted that the youngster has taken on a bigger role since the postseason got underway and is seizing the moment.

"Johnston has paced the Stars with a team-high seven goals, while his 11 points are third on the team," Clark wrote. "His 20:10 of average ice time is top among Stars forwards and fifth on the team overall. In fact, he was the only Stars forward who averaged more than 20 minutes per game in the playoffs, with the next closest being [Jason] Robertson at 19:05."

Short-handed goal for Wyatt Johnston, the STAR for Dallas this postseason pic.twitter.com/T9f3WieiYL
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 14, 2024

The Stars are still waiting to see who their next-round opponent will be, and there is plenty of anticipation for Johnston to get back on the ice and keep his hot streak going. If he keeps pacing Dallas the way he has this postseason, more outlets are going to look at him as an even more favorable Conn Smythe candidate.

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