Move over Matthews; McDavid the pre-season favourite to win the Hart Trophy

There's an idiosyncratic beauty to awards betting in sports: While almost all sports betting odds derive their lines from tangible statistics during the course of play and can be mostly boiled down to algorithms of probability, individual awards odds introduce a level of subjectivity, as these results are not tied specifically to stats, but rather…

As most teams approach the halfway point of the 2023-24 NHL season, now is a good time to check back into all the futures bets we placed at the beginning of the campaign. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the NHL awards, the Hart Memorial Trophy is given to the league's MVP. The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the league's best goaltender, the…

Week 2 in the 2023-24 NHL season has wrapped up and the outlook for the Hart Trophy has significantly changed from what it was at the beginning of the month and the future market is already undergoing notable transformations. The award is presented annually to the league's most valuable player. We'll take a closer look at the contenders and what…

Every year, we put out an article talking about the pie-in-the-sky predictions that would lead to New Jersey Devils players winning awards. Sometimes there was an outside chance (usually for the Calder Trophy since it was all rookies), but usually, it was a long shot at best. Some actually came true. One year, we created our own NHL Awards just so…

The 2023-24 NHL season begins Oct. 10 with a tripleheader on ESPN. To celebrate the start of the season, NHL.com writers and editors are debating who they think will win some of the League's major awards. Today, the Hart Trophy, which is given annually "to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team." The winner is selected in a poll of…

Training camps are underway and preseason action is upon us. It's only a matter of time before the Toronto Maple Leafs kick off the regular season. The latest: The heartbreak of another postseason exit is beginning to subside and Leafs fans can open their hearts and fill it with belief that this is their year. Even for those who don't want to bet…

The Hart Trophy is given to the most valuable player (MVP) during the regular season, voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The odds to win the award are out and they suggest that there will be a back-to-back winner for the first time in over a decade. With just nine days from the start of the 2023-24 NHL campaign, there's many…

The NHL preseason got underway this weekend, and we're now just two weeks away from the regular season! With the season rapidly approaching, now is the time to get in on some NHL Awards Futures. Let's take a look at one longshot bet for the Hart Trophy, Vezina Trophy, Norris Trophy, and Calder Trophy! All of these odds are via our friends over at…

Ilya Sorokin is on everybody's radar this season. The 28-year-old netminder went 31-22-7 with a.924 save percentage and a league-leading+51.4 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) per Evolving-Hockey in 2022-23 and was the main reason why the New York Islanders returned to the playoffs after missing the previous campaign. Sorokin's star-turn…

In this edition of Toronto Maple Leafs News & Rumors, I'll take a look at whether new defenseman John Klingberg can make an impact on the team's secondary offence. I'll also compare his career to former Maple Leafs defenseman (for a short time last season) Erik Gustafsson. Second, while I readily acknowledge that Connor McDavid is the best player…

It's no secret last season was a bit of a down year for Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. After putting up a whopping 60 goals and 106 points in 2021-22, which won him the Rocket Richard, the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Trophy, the Toronto Maple Leafs best player regressed last season. He still put up a solid 40 goals and 85 points…

With 32 points in 16 games, Connor McDavid is running away with the scoring lead so far this season. And the Edmonton Oilers captain, who has a 15-point lead on the next-highest scorer, appears to be running away with the Hart Trophy as well. According to covers.com, McDavid is the+140 favourite to win MVP. Last year's winner, Auston Matthews, is…

The start of the 2022-23 NHL regular season is upon us, and with it, projections for the NHL's individual player awards and assorted other predictions as well. With input from NHL agents, players, scouts and media, this is one writer's opinion on who is likeliest to make headlines this year. To reiterate, this is just one person's perspective; if…

LAS VEGAS -- Connor McDavid leads a three-player race for the Hart Trophy in a preseason poll of his peers. The Edmonton Oilers center was selected as the favorite to win the 2022-23 regular-season award given to the most valuable player. Seventeen of the 49 players who were polled selected him first. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews,…

It was during a conversation last month about whether he wanted to win the Hart Trophy, when Nathan MacKinnon expressed frustration that has no doubt affected several players over the years. The MVP is a popularity contest. "I used to really care about that for sure, but It's just tough to put your happiness in the fact that Jim from Philly didn't…

The Toronto Maple Leafs' season starts soon which means fans will get to watch Auston Matthews terrorize opposing goaltenders once again. The sharp-shooting forward had a career year in 2021-22, finishing with 60 goals and 106 points. The most impressive part about his yearly totals was the fact that he missed nine games, making it fair to wonder…

To mark the beginning of the 2022-23 regular season, NHL.com is running its first installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Hart Trophy, given annually to the player voted as the most valuable to his team in a vote by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Connor McDavid is 25 years old. He's…

The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to snap an unwanted streak of first-round playoff exits in 2022-23, and heading into the campaign, there's optimism that this could be the year they make a run. The Maple Leafs have plenty of star talent, yet whether it be due to tough first-round matchups or key players failing to show up, they have not made it…

The race for the NHL Hart Trophy, the most valuable player in the league, will be THE race to watch heading into the upcoming season. The odds for this prestigious trophy have come out and there are superstars up and down the list, including three former winners of the award. The 2022-23 season is just under a month away and it's one of the most…

Withincreasing offensive production, the National Hockey League is allowing itsstar players to shine and, as a result, there are many talented players thatare viable contenders to win the Hart Trophy as the Most Valuable Player. Here are our Hart Trophy odds, picks, and predictions for the 2022-23 NHL season. Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple…

After several grueling hockey-less months, the 2022-23 NHL season is only about a month away. Even though it's still a bit too early to start wagering on hockey games, the time is perfect for getting in on the available futures betting markets. Whether predicting the next Stanley Cup champion or league MVP, there are futures markets for everyone…

Toronto Maple Leafs' star Auston Matthews is favored to win the Hart Trophy following his monster season last year where he potted 60 goals. Leon Draisitl is a ways behind him sitting at+600, along with McDavid at+650. The goal in hockey is, well, to score goals. As many as you can, actually, with the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy awarded to…

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be starting training camp soon, and with that in mind, I thought we could talk about some of the best bets you could make this season. The calendar has officially rolled into September, which sadly means the end of summer is near. Kids are going back to school, weather is getting cooler, days are getting shorter, and of…