JASON COHN
Two members of the Pittsburgh Penguins are the front-runners to become playoff MVP.
According to odds released by Bodog.ca prior to the opening game of the postseason, captain Sidney Crosby and teammate Evgeni Malkin both have 11 to 1 odds of winning the Conn Smythe Trophy two months from now.
Here are the top 24 players on their list of MVP odds:
Evgeni Malkin (PIT) - 11/1 Sidney Crosby (PIT) - 11/1 Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) - 16/1 Henrik Sedin (VAN) - 16/1 Daniel Sedin (VAN) - 16/1 Roberto Luongo (VAN) - 20/1 Tim Thomas (BOS) - 22/1 Pekka Rinne (NAS) - 25/1 Marian Gaborik (NYR) - 25/1 Brian Elliott (STL) - 25/1 Pavel Datsyuk (DET) - 30/1 Brad Richards (NYR) - 30/1 Claude Giroux (PHI) - 30/1 Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) - 30/1 Jaroslav Halak (STL) - 30/1 Jimmy Howard (DET) - 35/1 James Neal (PIT) - 35/1 David Perron (STL) - 35/1 Jonathan Toews (CHI) - 40/1 Henrik Zetterberg (DET) - 40/1 Alexander Radulov (NAS) - 40/1 Ilya Bryzgalov (PHI) - 40/1 David Backes (STL) - 40/1 Ryan Kesler (VAN) - 40/1
There are some real long shots included as well, with four players at 100 to 1: Erik Karlsson, Milan Michalek, Radim Vrbata and Braden Holtby.
The odds makers have the favourites in each series (in order of how big a favourite they are) as the Bruins, Rangers, Canucks, Penguins, Devils, Blues, Blackhawks and Predators.