Greg Wyshynski, Senior NHL writer at ESPN, has posted the opening odds on who could win the Hart Trophy according to Bovada.
Altogether, there are 34 players who have their odds listed to take home the NHL’s award for their Most Valuable Player.
Here is each player that was listed and what their opening odds of winning the award are.
Favorites
- Connor McDavid 10/3
- Sidney Crosby 13/2
- Auston Mathews 10/1
- Alexander Ovechkin 10/1
- John Tavares 10/1
McDavid, the 2016-17 Hart Trophy winner, is listed as the favorite to take home the award this upcoming season.
Entering just his fourth year in the league, he has led the NHL in scoring each of the last two seasons.
The top-five favorites also feature two other former winners in Sidney Crosby (won twice) and Alexander Ovechkin (won three times). Crosby most recently won after the 2013-14 season while Ovechkin last won in 2012-13. Capitals Outsider discusses how Ovechkin will move his way up in the all-time rankings in certain categories after he is fresh off his first Stanley Cup victory.
Matthews has 74 goals and 58 assists in 144 games during his first two NHL seasons. His new teammate with the Maple Leafs, Tavares, finished third in voting for the 2014-15 season.
Sixth to tied for tenth-best odds
- Taylor Hall 15/1
- Nikita Kucherov 15/1
- Nathan MacKinnon 15/1
- Mark Scheifele 15/1
- Anze Kopitar 18/1
- Evgeni Malkin 18/1
Hall opens, tied for sixth in best odds for the Hart Trophy, despite winning the Hart Trophy last season. He became the first Devils player to receive the honors.
Malkin is a former winner back in the 2011-12 season. MacKinnon finished fifth in the league in scoring last season with 97 points and finished second in Hart Trophy voting.
Kucherov has scored 79 goals for the Lightning over the last two seasons. Kopitar was a finalist for the Hart Trophy last season and finished third in voting.
All others listed
- Patrick Kane 20/one
- Claude Giroux 25/one
- Brad Marchand 25/one
- Steven Stamkos 25/one
- Vladimir Tarasenko 25/one
- Jack Eichel 33/one
- Jamie Benn 40/one
- Patrik Laine 40/one
- Nicklas Backstrom 50/one
- Filip Forsberg 50/one
- Johnny Gaudreau 50/one
- Ilya Kovalchuk 50/one
- Evgeny Kuznetsov 50/one
- Artemi Panarin 50/one
- Tyler Seguin 50/one
- Blake Wheeler 50/one
- Logan Couture 66/one
- Phil Kessel 75/one
- Joe Pavelski 75/one
- Aleksander Barkov 100/one
- Jonathan Marchessault 100/one
- David Pastrnak 100/one
- Alexander Radulov 100/one
The only other former winner listed after the eleven favorites is Kane of the Blackhawks who won after the 2015-16 season.
Kovalchuk is listed in the odds despite last playing in the NHL during the 2012-13 season. He is coming back after agreeing to a three-year deal with the Kings.