If we all look back at the 2023-24 NHL season come spring as the Year of the Connor, don’t be surprised.
The Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid is as big legal sportsbooks to earn his second Hart Trophy in a row and fourth overall.
mobile betting sites to claim the Calder Trophy as the top first-year player.
Those two Connors are considered so far above their peers that FanDuel offers bets on them against the field. McDavid is an even-money wager to be named best player in the regular season — the other 735 players on opening day rosters are a combined -124.
Bedard is an even bigger solo favorite than that — at -125 at FanDuel to be the top rookie, compared to +100 for the field.
And while he’s not strong enough to merit a versus-the-field betting option, you even have veteran Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck among the top candidates in odds to win the Vezina Trophy after finishing third for that honor last season.
Bedard is the only one of those Connors who will be on the ice when the NHL regular season starts with three games Tuesday night, including the Blackhawks visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins. And McDavid is the only Connor whose team is among the top contenders for the Stanley Cup, although oddsmakers generally place the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche as the two biggest favorites.
But one reliable certainty with the NHL is how unpredictable it is, with one of the few sure things as the season gets underway being that no Connor will win the Norris Trophy for best defenseman. (And sorry, Conor Timmins of the Toronto Maple Leafs, that goes for you, too.)
Keeping that in mind, Sports Handle examined the futures odds at eight of the nation’s most widely available legal betting sites to find some of the best betting potential that was available Monday prior to the season getting underway.
Carolina, Colorado rated the strongest 6b4e38
While last season’s Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights were a deserving champion, the fickle fates of the typical NHL postseason showed up in how the Boston Bruins — a record-setting team in regular-season wins and points — were knocked out in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
As the new season starts, neither the Golden Knights nor the Bruins are deemed among the biggest favorites to be carting the Stanley Cup around in June.
The Hurricanes have odds as short as +700 to claim the championship, although a bettor using BetRivers can get them at +950.
The Avalanche, meanwhile, are as short as +800 at multiple sites, with DraftKings the book offering the best payout for them to get their second title in three years at +1000.
McDavid’s Oilers are grouped with the Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils in the next tier of odds favorites. Those wanting to invest in a futures bet on one of those three teams would be wise to consider:
- New Jersey: +1050 (BetRivers)
- Edmonton: +1100 (FanDuel)
- Toronto: +1100 (FanDuel, PointsBet)
The Golden Knights have odds between +950 and +1300 to repeat, with FanDuel and BetRivers both offering the higher payout.
After those half-dozen teams, a bettor wanting to make good use of the best numbers among other contenders could get the Dallas Stars at +1700 (BetMGM), the Florida Panthers at +2200 (Caesars), the Tampa Bay Lightning at +2500 (Caesars, Barstool Sportsbook), and the Los Angeles Kings also at +2500 (Barstool).
Betting favorites in the four divisions 6h3a4j
Among the four eight-team divisions, the Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Avalanche, and Oilers all stand out as favorites to finish best in the regular season.
In the Metropolitan Division, Carolina can be bet at +200 (FanDuel, BetRivers). New Jersey is listed not far behind, however, at +240 (BetMGM).
Toronto is a wider favorite in the Atlantic Division over Boston, which has lost many key players from last year’s record-setting team. The longest odds on the Maple Leafs are +200 (BetMGM), while the Bruins can be bet at +375 (Caesars, BetRivers, PointsBet).
DraftKings has Colorado and Dallas even in the Central Division at +155, but everyone else favors the Avalanche, with the DraftKings number being the best one for a bettor to use. The Stars, meanwhile, are as long as +220 at FanDuel.
And in the Pacific Division, another big battle between the Oilers and Golden Knights could be at hand. Edmonton is favored, with a bettor able to do best at +200 at BetMGM, while PointsBet is offering +300 on the Las Vegas squad.
The individual awards odds 3o232t
While McDavid has collected three Hart Trophy awards since ing the league in 2015, it’s not inconceivable that someone else can claim the next one. His very own Oilers teammate, Leon Draisaitl, previously won the award and is anywhere from +1000 to +1800 to do so again, with Caesars offering the longest odds and thus best return on the 2020 MVP.
The best site for a McDavid bettor is BetRivers, with its +110. Among those behind him and ahead of Draisaitl are Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche (+1200 at Caesars) and Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs (+1600 at DraftKings), with David Pastrnak of the Bruins +2000 at DraftKings and Barstool and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers the same +2000 at Caesars.
While the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark was named the league’s top goaltender last year, he is not among the favorites for the next Vezina Trophy. It is such a close race among his peers that FanDuel lists four netminders all at +500: the Jets’ Hellebuyck, Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders, Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers, and Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators.
At other sites, Sorokin generally has the shortest odds, with Shesterkin and Saros a close second.
Colorado’s 24-year-old Cale Makar, who won the Norris as the league’s top defenseman two years ago in just his third season, is a strong favorite to do so again. FanDuel offers the best return on him, at +240, while the Rangers’ Adam Fox is +700 at Caesars and Barstool and Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin is +800 at BetMGM and BetRivers.
There’s potential Norris betting value, however, on Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, in that the +1400 offered by DraftKings is well above what other sites show for him.
As for 18-year-old phenom Bedard, making his debut in Pittsburgh against his boyhood idol Sidney Crosby, his Blackhawks still have some work ahead to put a ing cast around him (DraftKings makes Chicago 200/1 for the Stanley Cup), but he should already be fun to watch.
FanDuel’s -125 represents the shortest odds for Bedard to collect the Calder Trophy, as what could be the first of many future awards for him in the league. Next behind him are Logan Cooley of the Arizona Coyotes (+900 at BetRivers) and Luke Hughes (+950 at FanDuel) of the Devils.
