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Who's walking away with the Conn Smyth this year? Certainly not one of those guys.

Lindros. Lemieux. Palffy. Iginla. Theodore.

Hey, none of those guys even made the postseason.

Instead of the usual suspects, the battle for the 2003 Stanley Cup has created overnight sensations for the NHL marketing machine. Goodbye, Stevie Y, Super Joe, and Mario the Magnificent. Hello. Jiggy (on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno", even!), Gabby, and Mighty Marty.

Who are the breakthrough players of this year's postseason battle? People that you probably never associated with the phrase "Stanley Cup hero."

Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Anaheim Mighty Ducks

The king is dead. Long live the king. Or in this case, Patrick Roy has retired. Long live Jean-Sebastian Giguere.

Jiggy, as his bandwagoning friends call him, became an instant story when he stole Game 1 against the Detroit Red Wings. Yes, team captain and long-suffering Quacker Paul Kariya scored in triple-overtime, and yes, the Ducks certainly played well as a team in the playoffs, but let's face it -- that first game, the Red Wings were out for blood and ready to do an Ozzy Osbourne size bite off the head of the Ducks.

Only Jiggy was there to stop the Big Red Machine. While that game may have been Giguere's introduction to the mass media, his defining moment seemed stolen from Patrick Roy's scrapbook.

In game two of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Ducks, hampered by a ridiculous 10-day layoff, skated through sludge during the first two periods. Giguere, after letting in a soft goal by Jeff Friesen, smashed his stick and cursed his way into the locker room. Soon after, Giguere issued both public and private challenges to his teammates to find their emotion and their game, and to become the team that had decimated both the Red Wings and the Stars. Giguere brought his "A" game into Games 3 and 4, and the déjà vu soon set in.

An emotional leader. A clutch performance. An intense competitor. A good French-Canadian lad. This tale used to be known as "The Patrick Roy Story." Can Jiggy's story follow the same path as Roy's? He's off to a good start.

Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild

So ESPN The Magazine does a feature on Marian Gaborik. Does that make him a household name? Not by any means. Even though hockey fans may have known about the Wild's whiz kid, few were ever exposed to his stickhandling acrobatics (being on a "boring" expansion team will keep you off ESPN until the playoffs).

Gaborik, who was among the league-leaders in goal-scoring before the All-Star Break, saw his production tail off to a measly four goals in the final 30 games of the season. Many predicted Gaborik to be easily shutdown in the playoffs. Too soft, too green, too snakebite, claimed those experts. They were wrong.

Going into the Stanley Cup finals, Gaborik led the league in playoff-scoring with 9 goals and 8 assists. His goals against the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks were often SportsCenter worthy, and his puck sense under the intense pressure and defense of the playoffs illustrated a clutch player to be reckoned with for the next decade.

Oh yeah, the kid just turned 21 in February. He might have a few more of those SportsCenter moments in his career.

Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning

Though the Lightning were eliminated in the second-round by the New Jersey Devils, the very fact that they made it that far was an accomplishment for the club. The driving force for the team was a pint-sized firebrand of moppy hair and a wicked wrist shot named Martin St. Louis. While Vincent Lecavalier may have the size and pure talent, St. Louis is the sparkplug that ignites the Tampa Bay attack. The Washington Capitals thought they had St. Louis figured out after the first two games of their series. Like Marian Gaborik's skeptics, they were wrong.

Tampa Bay's roster lists St. Louis' height as 5-9. Many observers noted that the Lightning's PR people appear to have inflated that number by a few inches. And come playoff time, St. Louis was deemed to small to be of any significance for the Lightning. Mighty Marty proved that big skills and a bigger heart can overcome any questions about size.

In Tampa Bay's four-consecutive wins against the Caps, St. Louis dominated with five goals and four assists, including the series-clinching goal in triple-overtime. The Devils managed to keep Lecavalier (who was also dominant against Washington) to 1 assist, but St. Louis continued to defy skeptics during the Lightning's two best games of the series.

With the Tampa Bay attack shutdown by the New Jersey defense, he remained the lone Bolt to generate consistent offense. Despite ultimately losing to the Devils, St. Louis proved he could thrive in the rough and tumble world of the Stanley Cup playoffs. And he probably won't be hearing any more questions about whether he is big enough to be a factor in the NHL.

Zdeno Chara, Ottawa Senators

For hockey fans in the United States, Zdeno Chara is mostly known as being really tall. Ridiculously tall. At 6-9, Chara is a tower of power on the blueline. Reach and positioning were always recognized as strengths for the gangly Czech defender. As Ottawa Senators fans know, Chara has improved his all-around play since being dealt from the Islanders.

During his stay on Long Island, Chara's maximum offensive contribution was 11 points. In his first year as a Senator, Chara finished with 23 points and a stunning +30. Those offensive numbers were also packaged with a rough-and-tumble 156 penalty minutes.

This season, Chara received powerplay time and was given the green light to unload his shot. The payoff? 39 points in 74 games, +29, and an intimidating 111 penalty minutes.

Chara's presence on the ice is nothing new to Sens fans. But for the U.S. hockey audience, the 2003 playoffs was Chara's coming out party. Underexposed on American television, the Senators finally got airtime on ESPN and Chara made himself noticed -- and not just for his size. He went toe-to-toe with the likes of John LeClair and Scott Stevens, and often came out on top. He was used in the slot on the power play -- similar to Dallas' strategy with Derian Hatcher, but with an even bigger body.

Chara's puck-handling and board skills shone through against the Devils during the Senators' three wins. Unfazed by the speedy Devils, Chara would be seen carrying the puck into the offensive zone by himself, grinding it out behind the net. His immense size made it nearly impossible to move, and his giant wingspan kept New Jersey defenders at bay. In short, Chara, under both a Canadian and an American spotlight, proved that his size, skills, and toughness made him a future Norris trophy candidate.

Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Marian Gaborik, Martin St. Louis, and Zdeno Chara showed that they could thrive in Stanley Cup Playoffs. As the careers of Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, and others wind down, these four players have just begun to write their postseason legacy. Will next season bring such a memorable crop of new stars to the Stanley Cup stage? Only time will tell.

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