In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings we check back in with the Conn Smythe Watch and which players are leading that race.

Hall is without a doubt the Devils' most valuable player but he is one of about a dozen candidates for the overall NHL honor. The race for the Hart Trophy is one of the most crowded, convoluted.

Hart: Leon Draisaitl Draisaitl's gaudy offensive numbers carried him to victory in the Hart race as well, as he beat out New York's Artemi Panarin and Colorado's Nathan MacKInnon for the MVP award. In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings we take a look at the biggest individual award race — the Hart Trophy for league MVP. This is always a complicated argument because everyone has a different definition of what consists of “value.” Is it simply the the best player? The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association has awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy to the league’s most valuable player since 1926, a whopping 16 years before the original six era officially began. With 31 teams in the NHL and league parity at an all-time high, the Hart Trophy race has never been more exciting.

Right now the story of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a couple of game-changing goaltending performances in Columbus and Arizona that are keeping their series close, and the rapid emergence of two young superstar defensemen that are getting ready to take over the league.

Who else figures into the mix at this point?

To the rankings!

1. Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus Blue Jackets. He remains the story of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not only because he has been the most impressive individual player in the tournament so far, but also because it is so unexpected. He exceeded expectations during the regular season in replacing Sergei Bobrovsky. He has taken his play to an entirely new level in the playoffs and is the single biggest reason his team is still playing and giving Tampa such a fight.

2. Darcy Kuemper, Arizona Coyotes. Pretty much the Western Conference version of Korpisalo. A former backup that has taken his chance as a starter and run with it. He has become a wildly productive goalie since arriving in Arizona and after shutting down the Nashville Predators in the Qualifying Round has been giving the high-powered Colorado Avalanche some headaches in the First Round.

3. Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks. Yes, you are reading that correctly. It is Hughes over Bo Horvat in Vancouver. Maybe this is a spicy take that needs to be handled with oven mitts, but it is also the correct take. Horvat has been great (as have all of Vancouver’s young players) and scored some massive goals, but when it comes to the team’s best player night in and night out, the answer is simply Hughes. Because of his position and the type of impact his position can make he was always going to be the Canucks’ X-factor and his development was going to play a big role in what this team was capable of doing. He has quickly become a star, and the Canucks are wildly better off because of it. He is playing 23 minutes per night in the playoffs, he has nine points in seven games (tied for the team lead, and leads the league in assists), and is a possession-driving monster that is helping the Canucks dominate shot attempts (55.1 percent), scoring chances (59.8 percent), expected goals (56.3 percent), and actual goals (7-4 margin) when he is on the ice. He is still only 20 years old.

4. Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars. Another absolutely brilliant young defenseman that could very well have a Norris Trophy in his future. He is neck-and-neck with Hughes in my view for the Conn Smythe and it is really down to splitting hairs when it comes to which one gets top billing. You could flip flop these two and I would not argue it too much. He has been the Stars’ best player.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

5. Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers have been waiting decades for a goalie like Hart, and now that they finally have one it should terrify the rest of the Eastern Conference. He has only allowed seven goals in his first five starts this postseason. He had one clunker of a game where he allowed four goals against Montreal, which means he has only allowed three goals in his other four starts. The Flyers are for real, and Hart is a big reason why.

6. Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes. He was the best non-goalie in the qualifying round but has cooled off a little against Boston. With Andrei Svechnikov sidelined the Hurricanes are going to need him to get hot again to help carry the offense. Fortunately for them, he is perfectly capable of doing that.

7. Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa’s underrated and often times overlooked star. He has at least one point in every game this postseason for the Lightning and is helping to pace the offense in the absence of Steven Stamkos.

8. Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens needed the in-his-prime version Price to show up to have a chance this postseason, and that is the exact version that has be in net for them. He may not play at this level as consistently as he used to, but that ability is still very much there.

9. Semyon Varlamov, New York Islanders. The Islanders looked lousy for the last three months of the regular season and then came back in the return to play and immediately looked better than they did at any point over the past two years (even during their 15-0-2 stretch earlier this season). Varlamov’s play in net is one of the big factors in that turnaround.

10. David Krejci, Boston Bruins. Easily the most underrated Bruins of this era. Krejci has always had a knack for coming through in the playoffs and he is doing it again this season playing big minutes and helping to drive the Bruins’ offense in the First Round against Carolina with five points (two goals, three assists) in the first three games of the series.

Honorable mentions:Sam Bennett (Calgary Flames), Bo Horvat (Vancouver Canucks), Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Reilly Smith (Vegas Golden Knights) Cam Talbot (Calgary Flames), Jordan Eberle (New York Islanders)

MORE:
• Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round schedule

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Adam Gretz is a writer forPro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

The conference finalists are set in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders squaring off in the East, and the Vegas Golden Knights taking on the Dallas Stars in the West. Which means the race is on for the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the playoff MVP.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association vote on the NHL's playoff MVP award. In the last 20 Conn Smythe Awards, five were goaltenders, four were defensemen and the rest were forwards.

Here's where the MVP candidates in the Stanley Cup playoffs currently rank:

10. Josh Bailey, RW, New York Islanders

New York has had several different heroes in the playoffs -- including both goaltenders -- but Bailey is the Islanders' leading scorer in the playoffs with 15 points (two goals, 13 assists). He had six points -- all assists -- in the last four games of their series against the Flyers.

9. Mark Stone, RW, Vegas Golden Knights

The Knights forward is second on the team in goals (6) and points (15), but it's his 200-foot game that's been dazzling in the postseason. Stone leads the Knights with 2.84 takeaways per 60 minutes.

8. Joe Pavelski, C, Dallas Stars

The Stars center is tied for the team lead in goals, with eight tallies. He has an established reputation as a playoff hero. The Conn Smythe is an award that likes to tell a story. If the Stars win and Pavelski leads the team in goals, his arrival last offseason as a postseason difference-maker that actually made a difference will be one such story.

7. Victor Hedman, D, Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning defenseman has nine points in 13 games, skating to a plus-11 and averaging a team-high 26 minutes per game. He also had the series-clinching goal in overtime against the Bruins. Keep in mind that this is an award driven by the writers' votes, the same writers who have made Hedman a Norris Trophy finalist for four straight seasons.

6. Robin Lehner, G, Vegas Golden Knights

In 12 starts, Lehner is 8-4 with a .918 save percentage, a 1.99 goals-against average and the save of the playoffs in Game 7 against the Canucks. Through all the controversy swirling around the Vegas goalie spot, Lehner has thrived. His three shutouts also lead the postseason.

5. Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning goalie leads the playoffs in save percentage (.931) and goals-against average (1.91), and has been the backbone of the Lightning's two series wins. He really found his groove in the Boston series, giving up a total of four goals in the last three games. Vasilevskiy is the leading goalie still around in the playoffs in goals saved vs. expectation.

4. Shea Theodore, D, Vegas Golden Knights

For a while, it looked like the Knights lacked that foundational defenseman that Stanley Cup champions have. Theodore has disproved that theory with a star-making postseason. He has a team-leading 16 points in 15 games, skating 22:20 per game to a plus-6. A difference-maker for the Knights.

3. Mathew Barzal, C, New York Islanders

Mlb Mvp Race 2021

He doesn't lead the Islanders in points; that's Bailey, with 15 of them. He doesn't lead in goals; that's a three-way tie between Anthony Beauvillier, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee, with seven each. But with five goals and eight points, Barzal has solid numbers to go with being the most dangerous player on the ice in most games. He had six points in seven games against the Flyers. He had an overtime winner against the Capitals, too.

2. Brayden Point, C, Tampa Bay Lightning

Point is the leader in goals (6) and points (18) for the postseason, including the winning goals in the Lightning's five-overtime classic against Columbus and the overtime series clincher against the Blue Jackets. In the Boston series, Point had eight points in five games. Factor in the 'picking up the slack in the absence of Steven Stamkos' narrative, and you have a strong Conn Smythe case.

1. Miro Heiskanen, D, Dallas Stars

Nhl Mvp Race

With 21 points in 16 games, the 21-year-old defenseman is the highest scorer left in the postseason. The last offensively dominant performance in the playoffs by a defenseman was Brent Burns, with 24 points in 2016. The three highest-scoring postseasons for defensemen: Paul Coffey (37 points, 1985), Brian Leetch (34 points, 1994) and Al MacInnis (31 points, 1989). While Coffey was trumped by a fellow named Wayne Gretzky, the other two players won the Conn Smythe for the Stanley Cup champion Rangers and Flames, respectively. If the Stars win the Stanley Cup, it's easy to see Heiskanen doing the same.