from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

There have been 49 recipients of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP since the award was first handed out in 1965.

A defenseman has won the Conn Smythe only nine times. But another may be joining that elite club this year.

While there’s still time for Tyler Johnson or Jonathan Toews to have a couple of impactful games before the end of the Stanley Cup finals to help their MVP case, it is hard not to view blueliners Victor Hedman and Duncan Keith as the front-runners right now.

"You look at their consistency from the start of the playoffs up until now, I mean, that’s probably the biggest thing for those two guys," Hall of Fame blueliner Al MacInnis, the 1989 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, told ESPN.com on Friday. "You could probably build the case for three or four players on each team, but you look at those two guys, you look at their level of play, you look at their consistency, you look at their matchups, the impact they’ve had on games. I think it would be tough to slide by those two names."

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