Mitch Marner disrespected by NHL after crushing Stanley Cup loss

Mitch Marner finished the Stanley Cup Final with 29 playoff points on a losing team and walked away with 6 Conn Smythe votes. Six.

That number is an insult dressed up as a participation ribbon.

He appeared on just 4 of 21 ballots. Never first. Three times as a third-place pick, once as a runner-up. Logan Stankoven, a Carolina forward on the winning team, collected 17 points in the vote. Marner got 6. Think about that for a second.

The comparison is not even close to fair. Stankoven plays on the Cup champions. He was surrounded by Jordan Staal, Taylor Hall, Nikolaj Ehlers. Of course he looks good. Marner was the best player on the side that lost.

Across 22 playoff games he scored 10 goals and added 19 assists. That's 29 points, the most productive playoff run of any player who did not win a ring this June.

He also went plus-11 for the playoffs. On a team that just lost the final in six games.

Marner was the only Vegas player anyone even bothered to vote for

Not one other Vegas Knights skater received a single Conn Smythe point. Not Jack Eichel. Not Mark Stone. Nobody.

Marner was carrying a franchise on his back, and 17 of 21 voters either left him off entirely or buried him in third.

Sunday night's Game 6 was not his finest hour individually. He went scoreless, put three shots on goal, and finished minus-3 in a 3-0 loss. But one bad game at the end of a two-month playoff run should not erase what came before it.

This is a bit like grading a starting pitcher on the one inning he gave up rather than the seven dominant ones that preceded it. Context matters. Voters apparently disagreed.

His regular season backed up everything the playoffs showed. Eighty points in 81 games, a plus-17 rating, 19 power play assists. The guy does not have an off switch.

The Conn Smythe has always rewarded winners first. That is not a secret. But 6 points for a player who posted 29 in the playoffs and was the lone Vegas presence on any ballot is not justice.

Rod Brind'Amour said after the game that everyone finally got to see what Jordan Staal is. Fair. Staal was excellent, scored 6 goals in the final alone. He deserved the trophy.

That does not mean Marner deserved to be treated like a footnote.

At $12 million against the cap, he is the fifth-highest-paid player in the NHL. Vegas lost in six. The votes were cruel. The pressure next season will be something else entirely.

Whether the organization builds around him or moves on, that Conn Smythe slight will follow the narrative all summer.