Back in the days of Turk, Baldy, and Boom-Boom...

While pundits are already starting to handicap this year's Conn Smythe Trophy race for playoff MVP, there's a great article over at Legends of Hockey that talks about a truly awesome effort by the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR) to come up with a list of deserving Conn Smythe honorees for Stanley Cup playoffs prior to 1965, when Jean Beliveau won it with Montreal.

The most interesting find here is that while currently, Patrick Roy stands alone as the only 3-time winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, the results of this research also recognized Maple Leaf great Ted Kennedy for his efforts in 1945, 1947, and 1948, which would place him alongside Roy in terms of individual postseason achievement. I didn't have NHL Center Ice back then, so I'll take the SIHR's word for it...