I am watching more playoff hockey this spring than I have probably since the last time the Leafs were in the playoffs. That’s still not as much as I used to watch, but it’s a lot more than than I was watching more recently. And so, for the hell of it, I wanted to see who is standing out this year in the race for playoff MVP.

Pittsburgh Penguins

• Phil Kessel, RW: 5G, 7A for 12P, +3 in 11 games; 17:11 ATOI
• Kris Letang, D: 1G, 7A for 8P, + 7 in 10 games; 29:27 ATOI
• Matt Murray, G: 7W-2L in 9 starts, 1 SO; .935 SV%, 2.05 GAA

Despite Letang’s 1-game suspension, I think this is his award to lose at the moment. Sure Murray has been excellent, but as far as I’m concerned, any time you have a skater playing nearly half the game – and scoring – they have to be the front runner.

San Jose Sharks

• Brent Burns, D: 4G, 11A for 15P, +3 in 12 games; 25:48 ATOI
• Logan Couture, C: 7G, 10A for 17P, +2 in 12 games; 19:27 ATOI
• Martin Jones, G: 8W-4L in 12 starts, 1 SO; .918 SV%, 2.16 GAA

Burns, pretty handily I’d say.

St. Louis Blues

• Brian Elliott, G: 8W-6L in 14 starts, 1 SO; .929 SV%, 2.29 GAA
• Robby Fabbri, C: 3G, 10A for 13P, +3 in 14 games; 14:47 ATOI
• Alex Pietrangelo, D: 1G, 6A for 7P, +6 in 14 games; 29:41 ATOI
• Vladimir Tarasenko, RW: 7G, 6A for 13P, -1 in 14 games; 17:51 ATOI

This one’s slightly hard as Pietrangelo has nearly half as few points as the leading scorers on his team, but he’s still playing a hell of a lot.

Tampa Bay Lightning

• Ben Bishop, G: 8W-2L in 10 starts, 2 SO; .938 SV%, 1.89 GAA
• Victor Hedman, D: 4G, 5A for 9P, +4 in 10 games; 27:30 ATOI
• Tyler Johnson, C: 4G, 9A for 13P, +11 in 10 games; 18:28 ATOI
• Nikita Kucherov, RW: 9G, 3A for 12P, +11 in 10 games; 20:25 ATOI

This is the closest race of the bunch, I think.