Before the start of every regular season, oddsmakers put together odds for every team’s shot at winning it all and give each team a certain amount of win to target during the season. They also put together the odds for each player’s chance to take home some personal hardware, which isn’t always the easiest thing to predict.
When you compare the odds from before the season to right now you’ll find that some teams and players are right on pace to finish where they were expected to finish. But there’s also a lot of mix ups because things happen during the year that no one can ever predict, and it makes for an even more exciting finish than expected in some categories.
Calder Trophy
When it comes to the NHL’s Rookie of the Year, a lot of people were expecting Alexis Lafreniere to run away with the award after going first overall, even though he was given the second-best odds behind his teammate Igor Shesterkin who came into the league with a little bit of NHL experience already to his name. But when it comes to change in player odds, the Calder Trophy experienced the most throughout its list.
As of April 28, only three players from the original top 10 are still in the running, and it’s not the first or second choice from the beginning of the season. Kirill Kaprizov had the third-best odds before the season but he’s been a lock for the award for most of the year. However, Jason Robertson has been one of the hottest players in the league over the past two months and is giving Kaprizov a run for his money.
Vezina Trophy
Just like the Calder Trophy odds, the Vezina Trophy list had a lot of movement of its own, but this race hasn’t been as intense just because the favourite at the beginning of the year has been the favourite all season long.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was the favourite to take home the Vezina Trophy this year with reigning award winner Connor Hellebuyck right behind him at second. Vasilevskiy has been the number one choice for oddsmakers all season long, but Marc-Andre Fleury and Philipp Grubauer are in the conversation, as well. Fleury’s chances took a bit of hit when Robin Lehner returned to the lineup and the two went back to a rotation, while Grubauer’s run for the award took a bit of a hit when he was put on Colorado’s COVID-19 list.
Norris Trophy
Like his teammate in the Vezina category, Victor Hedman was the favourite for the Norris Trophy before the season started and he’s still the favourite to win the award as we prepare for the final stretch of the regular season.
Adam Fox has made the biggest move up the list as he holds the second-best odds right now, while Charlie McAvoy, Drew Doughty and Darnell Nurse have climbed closer to the top of the list throughout the year.
Rocket Richard Trophy
Oddsmakers saw how close Auston Matthews came to winning the award last season and went with Matthews to win it all this year thanks to the new divisions. Anything can happen in these last few games, but Matthews has been scoring at a ridiculous pace this season and has been atop the leaderboard all year.
As of April 28, four of the top five players they predicted to win the award sit in the top five in goals scored this season, and the one who isn’t (Nathan MacKinnon) has been replaced by one of his teammates (Mikko Rantanen). Meanwhile, the Canadiens and Jets each have a player in the hunt as Tyler Toffoli and Kyle Connor have been in the race all season.
Individual hardware is nice, but it’s all about bringing home the Stanley Cup.
