The Athletic has live coverage of Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes in Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final.

The stage is set for the Stanley Cup Final, where the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights will face off for the Cup.

The best player from one of those teams will hoist the Conn Smythe trophy, awarded to the playoffs’ most valuable player.

Before the final series begins, here are the players leading the way for their respective teams.

Carolina Hurricanes

Stanley Cup chances: 56 percent

Frederik Andersen

GSAx: 12.5

After a middling regular season, Steady Freddie has summoned his vintage level of excellence when it matters most without faltering. He’s been everything Carolina has needed him to be and then some, with astonishingly great numbers through three rounds. 

Over 13 games, Andersen has saved 12.5 goals above expected, the best per-game rate of any goalie to make it past the first round. Only Jakub Dobeš, who benefited from playing against the Hurricanes’ firing squad, has a higher GSAx during the postseason. The next closest goalies — Dan Vladar and Linus Ullmark at roughly 6.5 GSAx — also had the same benefit. The next closest goalie after that is Vegas goalie Carter Hart, who is 9.5 goals back of Andersen. 

Carolina’s starter entered the playoffs with massive questions, but he’s been seriously special with a playoff-leading .931 save percentage.

K’Andre Miller

Net Rating: 5.9

When The Great One praises a player, you listen.

“Defensively, K’Andre Miller is playing as well as I’ve ever seen a defenseman play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs,” Wayne Gretzky said during a TNT postgame show during the conference finals. “He is just solid offensively, but defensively, nobody can get around him. He’s like a brick wall.”

The numbers bear that out: Miller’s plus-5.9 Net Rating leads all players this postseason and is a full goal higher than teammate Taylor Hall.

Miller is averaging nearly 24 minutes per night to lead the Hurricanes, has eight assists in 13 games and has been a dominant force at five-on-five. His 64 percent expected goals rate ranks third among defensemen, and the Hurricanes have outscored opponents 16-3 with him on the ice this season, a truly preposterous rate. 

He’s put all his tools together for a playoff run for the ages. Miller looks like a true No. 1 and another savvy bet by the Hurricanes proven right.

Taylor Hall / Jackson Blake / Logan Stankoven

Net Rating: 4.9; 4.2; 3.9

Take your pick here, no wrong answers. 

The Stankoven-Hall-Blake triumvirate has not only been the best line in the playoffs, they have a case to be the best line of the analytics era. As mentioned in our Stanley Cup Final preview, no other playoff line has outscored their opponents by eight and had an xG rate north of 70 percent since 2008. The way this trio has dominated is special.

Hall is the current leader according to Net Rating and leads the line in points with 16. Blake isn’t far behind with 15, while Stankoven leads the Hurricanes with nine goals.

Who sets themselves apart may come down to who dominates most in the deciding series, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if any of the three end up as playoff MVP.

Honorable mentions: Nikolaj Ehlers

Vegas Golden Knights

Stanley Cup chances: 44 percent

Mitch Marner

Net Rating: 3.9

After roaring through the first two rounds with career-best performances, Marner’s output against the Avalanche slowed a bit. Marner had just three assists in four games, bringing his total output to 21 points in 16 games. That leads all players and is still fantastic, but a lot of the damage on the scoresheet happening against weaker opponents is notable.

No matter. Marner delivered a typically stout defensive performance to make up for it. That was his calling card in Toronto: even when his production dried up, his defensive game was there. Marner ended up with a 52 percent expected goal share while outscoring Colorado 2-1 in his minutes. Given the healthy diet of Nathan MacKinnon he got, that’s a big win. Unlike his days in Toronto, the supporting cast in Vegas took care of the rest.

While Marner doesn’t have the highest Net Rating on Vegas, it’ll be hard to look past his combination of production and play-driving — and the narrative, of course. With a strong final against Carolina, a Vegas win likely means a Marner Conn Smythe.

Shea Theodore

Net Rating: 4.5

Big minutes, big matchups, big production, big defense; Shea Theodore is doing it all for Vegas in these playoffs. 

While Theodore has a reputation for being an offensive puck-mover, his role shifted heavily this season with the absence of Alex Pietrangelo. Theodore has been Vegas’ lead shutdown option along with Brayden McNabb and has crushed the role all season. That’s carried over to the playoffs, where his plus-3.1 Defensive Rating leads all players, driven by 1.8 expected goals against per 60 and 1.5 goals against per 60. On a per-60 basis, only Cale Makar was better in both regards among top-four defensemen. Having 46 blocked shots, second to only Alex Carrier, doesn’t hurt either.

On top of that, Theodore also has 11 points in 16 games. That’s tied for fourth among defensemen despite not being on the top power-play unit.

Theodore leads all Vegas players in Net Rating, and his defensive game is worth paying attention to in the final round. That’s been Vegas’ calling card, and he’s the driver of it from the back end.

Jack Eichel

Net Rating: 3.2

Eichel hasn’t been quite as productive as Marner, nor has he tilted the ice as heavily at five-on-five. But with a 59 percent goals share and 18 points in 16 games, he’s not that far off. He’s close enough that a huge final round could tilt the scales back in the favor of Vegas’ top dog.

The big thing with Eichel is his presence is part of what allows Marner to thrive. While the matchups shifted to Marner’s line in Game 3 and 4 against Colorado, it’s been Eichel’s line doing a lot of the heavy lifting throughout the playoffs. That’s meaningful work and explains why his xG is a little closer to middling.

If the top matchup goes to Marner instead in this series, that could shift the offensive edge back in Eichel’s favor. With recency bias being a major aspect for Conn Smythe voting, that may be enough for Eichel to win the award he probably should’ve won in 2023.

Honorable mention: Pavel Dorofeyev

Data via Hockey Stats and Hockey Stat Cards