2023-24 NHL Norris Trophy odds: Evan Bouchard, Mikhail Sergachev

Bookmakers see the Norris Trophy as Cale Makar’s award to lose.

Although Makar isn’t an odds-on favorite to be named the best defenseman in the NHL in 2023-24, he’s clearly in a tier of his own.

Makar is currently sitting at +160 to win the Norris at Caesar’s, putting him ahead of a chasing pack that includes Adam Fox (+700), Rasmus Dahlin (+700), Charlie McAvoy (15/1), Quinn Hughes (15/1), Miro Heiskanen (15/1) and Roman Josi (20/1). 

And though there’s a good chance that the 2023-24 Norris Trophy winner comes from that list, there are a couple of names much further down the board that bring massive value in this market.

Evan Bouchard, Oilers (50/1, BetMGM)

The Norris Trophy is often given to the defenseman who puts up the best offensive numbers in a given season, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a blueliner in a better situation to do that than Bouchard, who will be quarterbacking a historically good power play in Edmonton.

So, why are Bouchard’s odds so long if he’s in a grand-slam situation?

Because he’s never registered more than 43 points in a season … yet. 

But before you discard Bouchard just because he hasn’t had his star-turning season, there’s a couple of things to keep in mind here.

First, you always want to be ahead of the market in a situation like this.

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Bouchard is just 23 and has been quite impressive in a growing role for the Oilers, but he’s flying a bit under the radar here because he hasn’t made the leap yet. Once he does, these kind of numbers disappear.

And there’s a reason why Bouchard’s numbers don’t leap off the page: He wasn’t the power play quarterback in Edmonton until the team traded away Tyson Barrie at the deadline.

Once the club decided that Bouchard was ready to take over for Barrie, they shipped him to Nashville and gave the keys to Bouchard. He responded with 19 points in 21 games down the stretch. 

Running a power play with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl gives Bouchard a massive ceiling and makes him a bona fide threat to win this award at big odds.

Mikhail Sergachev, Lightning (100/1, Caesars)

If you’re yearning for a deep long shot, look no further than Sergachev, who seems poised to take over for Victor Hedman as the No. 1 defenseman for Tampa Bay.

Sergachev isn’t known to be an offensive force like a lot of the players at the top of the betting board, but that’s because he was playing behind one of the game’s best rearguards for the lion’s share of his time with the Bolts.

But last season we saw Sergachev take on a much larger role with the Lightning, and the Russian responded with a splendid season that saw him post 64 points (10 G, 54 A) in 79 games while playing nearly 24 minutes per game. 

Sergachev also took plenty of reps running the top power-play unit for the Lightning in 2022-23, and it’s hard to see him moving off that role for the new season. 

Like Bouchard, Sergachev is in a terrific spot to put together a star-turn season and will likely never be offered at this kind of number again in his career.