When Tim Thomas stepped up to the podium for his press conference after winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy on Wednesday night, it seemed as though the giant MVP award sitting next to him was bigger than usual. If you thought the same thing, good news: you were right.
Tim Thomas Wins Conn Smythe Trophy, And It Grows With His Legend
Here’s Thomas accepting with the trophy at that podium following Game 7 of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals. Take note of the amount of rows bearing the names of previous winners.
And here's the same exact trophy from 2010, when Gary Bettman passed it to Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Quite the facelift, no? By our count, the new Conn Smythe can hold 69 Maple Leafs with the names of previous winners on them. 60 on the bottom three rows, plus three on each side and three on the back on that top level. The previous version of the would have been able to hold the names of about 53 winners.
And that’s not even mentioning the stain work on the wood.
This isn't the first time the Conn Smythe has grown, either. Just look at this image from the 1977 Finals, when Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens won the award. Just one row.
Images via Getty. Stick with this StoryStream for complete coverage of Game 7. For full coverage of the Finals, head to our Stanley Cup Finals hub, our Canucks blog, Nucks Misconduct, and our Bruins blog, Stanley Cup of Chowder.
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