The 2024/25 NHL season is just on the horizon after one of the shortest offseasons in North American professional sports and for hockey fans, that is just fine.
Last season was loaded with exciting action from individual records being chased and highlight reel goals to surprise teams both good and bad.
The upcoming campaign appears primed to be another growth year for the NHL thanks to a fantastic product, superstar talent, and great personalities in the game.
Let’s take a look at the markets for some of the 2024 NHL awards and reveal our favorite picks.
There is a reason that Connor McDavid leads the NHL odds for the Hart at +150 and the next closest player is +600. McDavid is that good, there is not much more to it.
He is coming off a season in which he tallied 32 goals and 100 assists for 132 points in 76 games.
McDavid has been well over a point-per-game player his entire career and has tallied 513 points in 294 games across his last 4 seasons. If he stays healthy, McDavid will remain the odds-on favorite.
If you are looking for better value on the chance that McDavid misses time this year or underperforms, consider Jack Hughes as a pivot at +1100.
Hughes is the best player on what looks to be a great Devils team this year. He has put together three consecutive productive seasons despite missing time due to injury.
Hughes is entering the prime of his career and is poised to lead New Jersey to a playoff spot. Come spring, he may be on a short list for the Hart.
There is potential that this may be the year of the Oilers. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and other Oilers forwards will compete for multiple individual awards.
Coach Kris Knoblauch could be a Jack Adams award finalist. Also, Evan Bouchard should compete for the Norris Trophy.
Bouchard took a massive step forward last season going from 43 points in 2021/22 to 40 points in 22/23 to 82 points in 2023/24.
In those seasons, he played 81, 82, and 81 games respectively.
Clearly this is a reliable defenseman who is really coming into his own. He is the anchor defensively on what should be a top team in the league and will surely be in the Norris conversation all season.
In addition to being on the power play, playing with great players, and seeing his point totals rise, Bouchard has been very solid on the defensive side of the puck. He ranked first in the 23/24 NHL season in on-ice expected goals differential at +80.1.
Last year, he collected a +34 rating along with 105 shot blocks and 71 hits in an average of 23 minutes played per night. Bouchard appears to only be getting better which means building off last season, he could be collecting some hardware this year.
Juuse Saros has finished in the top five of Vezina Trophy voting each of the last three seasons. This year is as likely as any thus far that he can win.
Saros was arguably the main reason the Predators made the playoffs last year. His 64 games started led the NHL for the 3rd consecutive season, and his 1,672 saves stood alone atop the NHL as well.
This is a workhorse goaltender on a good team which gives this +1200 plenty of appeal.
The Predators were already a playoff team that only got better in the offseason with the additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei.
Look for Nashville to contend for the Western Conference this season and Saros to be a key contributor. If all goes to plan for this team, naturally, Saros will be a leading contender for the Vezina.
At +650, Montreal Canadiens defenceman Lane Hutson ranks sixth in the preseason odds for the Calder. There is not much of a gap, if any, between Hutson and any of the five players listed ahead of him in the odds as market leader and Philadelphia Flyers winger Matvei Michkov is +350.
Hutson is a defenseman that has lit it up offensively for three seasons now playing at the highest level for his age.
In the USHL, he collected 32 points in 27 games with a +27 rating. Then at Boston University, he had 30 goals and 97 points in 77 games in addition to six points in seven games at the World Juniors.
When BU was eliminated from last year’s Frozen Four, Hutson joined the Canadiens for the last two games of the season and go figure, he tallied two points in those two games.
This is an NHL-ready player on a talented young team with a good coach. These are favorable odds for Hutson to win the Calder.
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Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.