2022-2023 NHL Awards Odds, Predictions and Best Bets
The NHL season is finally here, set to begin on Friday, Oct. 7 with a couple of games in Prague, Czech Republic, between the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators.
That means, it's time to place your futures. Not only can you bet on who will win the Stanley Cup, but there's also money to be made in the NHL awards market.
Let's take a look at the odds to win each major award, and I'll give you my best bet and prediction for each.
Hart Trophy Odds and Prediction
The obvious choices for the Hart Trophy in 2022-2023 are atop the odds list. Connor McDavid has already won the award twice in his career, and Auston Matthews won his first last year after a 60 goal performance.
Instead of giving you an obvious choice, I'm going to recommend betting on Jonathan Huberdeau. He finished fifth in voting last season, totaling 115 points throughout the season, which tied for the second most in the NHL. He's now on a new team, the Calgary Flames, where he'll be the focal point of their offense. If his production takes one more step forward, he'll be amongst the favorites to win the award be season's end.
Vezina Trophy Odds and Prediction
Juuse Saros finished third in Vezina Trophy voting last season, but yet he's set at 10/1 to win it this season. The advantage he has over goaltenders like Igor Shesterkin and New York Islanders, is that he has better defense infront of him.
Shesterkin and Sorokin averaged around nine high danger scoring chances against them per 60 minutes of play. While they thrived in those situations last season, it's going to be hard to repeat that success. Meanwhile, Saros only saw 7.81 high danger scoring chances per 60 minutes of play. Fewer high danger scoring chances will do nothing but help him against his competition for the award. I love his odds to win at +1000.
Calder Trophy Odds and Prediction
The Calder Memorial Trophy is given to the rookie of the year of the NHL. This is the toughest award to predict on a yearly basis.
I'm going to go with Mason McTavish, the centre for the Anaheim Ducks. He played out his final year of junior hockey last season, and he racked up 40 points in 24 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs, and then totaled 29 points in 19 playoff games.
He appeared in nine games for the Ducks at the end of last year's regular season, and scored two goals and an assist in nine games. He'll get plenty of playing time on a young Ducks roster, so I think he's a solid bet at +600.
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy Odds and Prediction
There's no voting involved in the "Rocket" Richard Trophy, it simply goes to the player who scores the most goals throughout the season. I'm going to keep this one simple, and take Auston Matthews at +230.
He's won the award in back-to-back years, and seeing repeat winners for this Trophy is the norm in the NHL. For example, Alexander Ovechkin won it nine times between 2007-2019. Matthews racked up 60 goals last season, and he's showing no signs of slowing down. He's the favorite, but for good reason.
James Norris Trophy Odds and Prediction
With how big of a favorite Cale Makar is, you'd think that he won the award last season by a landslide. In reality, it was the closest race of all awards. he narrowly edged out Roman Josi, 1,631 votes to 1,606 votes. Inherently, in my opinion, that gives Roman Josi a ton of value at +750 to win the award this season.
Josi was the winner of the award back in 2019-2020, and I think he presents the best value to win it a second time this season.