Athletistic / Hockey. Olympic champion and now a member of the Russian Hockey Federation (RFH) coaching council Sergei Svetlov spoke about the results of the vote for the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy – the award given to the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup. The award was presented to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
“I am ready to accept McDavid’s 14 first places out of 15 possible. However, how to explain that Sergei Bobrovsky does not have a single second place in this vote? For me, it is a real mystery! that any professional who watched the final series of NHL games highlighted exactly two hockey players – McDavid and Bobrovsky. The third – at a short distance – Florida captain Alexander Barkov.
If the Russian media rightly reported that only one publication out of fifteen named Bobrovsky among the first two and under the first number, then the jury made a completely strange choice and, in fact, took the goalkeeper from Florida. This is incredible!
“There is no professional and sporting explanation for all this. So these are things related to hockey, politics. Today, this will not surprise anyone,” Svetlov said, according to Russia-Hockey.ru.
In the playoffs, Sergei Bobrovsky played 24 matches, reflected 90.6% of own shots, scored two goals and showed a reliability coefficient of 2.32. Sergei Bobrovsky twice won the award for the best goaltender of the NHL regular season – the Vezina Trophy (2013, 2017). Last season, he was one of three Vezina finalists, but the award ultimately went to Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Source: Sport
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
