This article is part of our NHL Picks series.
NHL Player Futures: Hart Trophy Picks, Norris Trophy Picks and More
We're just days away from puck drop for the 2023-24 NHL season, and by golly am I excited. There are too many juicy storylines to watch this year, and most of them have major betting implications too. Let's get our sweat going for the new season by running through the futures bets for Player Awards that are catching my eye, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Rocket Richard Award Picks
There was a time when you could basically pencil in Alex Ovechkin for this award, since the guy won it 9 times in his career. Ovi's going to be chasing Gretzky's goal record this year, no doubt, but there is a bit of a changing of the guard at the top of the goal scoring board.
Connor McDavid won it last year with an absurd 64 tallies, and Auston Matthews went back-to-back in the two years prior with 60 and 41 respectively. I think David Pastrnak, 2020's co-winner with Ovechkin, and Jason Robertson will have their hands in the pot this season, and Tage Thompson may be a dark horse. But when all is said and done, I think this trophy's going back to Edmonton, but not with McDavid.
Leon Draisaitl has been right there in the last two years, posting 52 and 55 in each campaign. He was beat out by 1 marker in 2018-19 when Ovechkin's 51 topped his 50. The Oilers are out for blood this season, and with McDavid and Draisaitl projected to put up video game numbers again, I think the German finally gets his Rocket.
Winner: Leon Draisaitl +700
Hart Trophy Picks
It's hard not to almost automatically give this award to Connor McDavid. The dude's already won it 3 times in his young career, and he's the frontrunner to repeat as Hart winner this year too after last year's victory. His teammate Leon Draisaitl took home the hardware in 2020 and will certainly make his case again this season with the Oilers essentially in Cup-or-bust mode.
2022's winner Auston Matthews is primed for a big season since he wasn't fully healthy throughout last year and still put up monster numbers. Matthew Tkachuk showed that he has what it takes to put a team on his back during the Panthers' surprising run to the Cup final last year, so I expect him to make some noise this season again. David Pastrnak will need to fill the void left by Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Taylor Hall so his already huge role in Boston will grow even bigger.
The Penguins and Lightning are in similar circumstances where they'll need their aging stars to propel them to the former glory they're so thirsty for, so that'd be Sidney Crosby or Nikita Kucherov in this case. There's always a chance that a goalie comes out of nowhere and steals the show - looking at you Igor Shesterkin - but that's only happened 4 times since 1997. I think the Avalanche are somehow flying under the radar, and no one hates that more than Nathan MacKinnon. The guy was probably on the ice just a few hours after their disappointing First Round exit at the hands of the Kraken last year, so I expect him to come out guns blazing in a retribution year.
Winner: Nathan MacKinnon +900
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Vezina Trophy Picks
Honestly, did anyone see Linus Ullmark coming for the Vezina before last year? I sure as heck didn't, but Ullmark backstopped the B's to the best regular season in NHL history and was awarded the Vezina for his service. Maybe we have another surprise in store for us this year too?
Ilya Sorokin, Juuse Saros, and Igor Shesterkin are the expected frontrunners. I could see Alexandar Georgiev and Jake Oettinger being in the mix should they help their teams to outstanding finishes. Sorokin was the major reason why the Islanders even made the playoffs last year. Juuse Saros faces a barrage of shots every night since the team in front of him is quite porous, yet still posts top metrics at the end of the day. Shesterkin took home the prize in 2021-22. I think the Rangers are better than people are making them out to be, but should they have a special year, Shesterkin will need to have a special year of his own. I like him to earn the crown again this year since I think he'll be a big reason why the Rangers finish ahead of either Sorokin's or Saros' clubs in the final standings.
Winner: Igor Shesterkin +600
Norris Trophy Picks
The trophy that's supposed to be handed out to the league's top defenseman has actually turned into a trophy that's handed out to the defenseman who scores the most. This is why Erik Karlsson ran away with the award last season in his Renaissance season that saw him drop a gaudy 101 points. Cale Makar, Adam Fox, and Roman Josi won it in the respective years preceding Karlsson, and they all had prolific offensive performances in those years.
It'd be cool to see a new face like Charlie McAvoy, Miro Heiskanen, or Josh Morrissey on the mantle, as all three are young stars who really announced themselves as such last season. Brandon Montour and Evan Bouchard both had stellar performances in the postseason last year and are expected to take big steps forward for Florida and Edmonton this season.
Youngsters Rasmus Dahlin, Quinn Hughes, and Moritz Seider will undoubtedly be finalists or even winners of this award at some point, but I think they still have a few more years to go before that. Barring injury though, I think the Avalanche are poised to dominate this regular season. I already picked Nathan MacKinnon to win the Hart, and I think Cale Makar repeats as the Norris winner for the second time in 3 years. If I had to bet on a defenseman to break 100 points this year, it'd be Makar. Following the Karlsson formula, if he does that, he wins this trophy.
Winner: Cale Makar +150
Selke Trophy Picks
This award is a favorite of the hockey purists, given to the forward who demonstrates the best abilities in his defensive responsibilities. Patrice Bergeron won this award 6 times, including back-to-back wins in the previous two seasons. He rode off into the sunset of retirement with his final Selke last year, making room for a new winner for this year's campaign.
Anze Kopitar won it in 2016 and 2018, and with the arrival of Pierre-Luc Dubois in Los Angeles, he's poised to take a more defensive-minded role while Dubois focuses on point production. His Kings' teammate Phillip Danault has been mentioned for years as a future Selke candidate, so perhaps this is the year he makes the leap. Although Auston Matthews is best known for his goal scoring abilities, he's actually one of the strongest defensive centers in the game too. Devils' captain Nico Hischier was a finalist for the award last season and the former #1 overall pick is expected to build on the career year he had.
Jon Cooper has been begging the hockey world to take more notice of Anthony Cirelli's Selke-style play for years, so perhaps this is the year people actually realize what's going on down in Tampa. It's hard to write off 2021's winner Aleksander Barkov too. This is a tough one because it's based on so much more than the basic stat line. The Selke winner is a glue guy too, the kind of player that holds the team together by doing the things that often don't make it to the scoresheet but are necessary for success nonetheless. With another year of growth under his belt (and a historic contract extension over the summer), I think Matthews is gearing up to show the world just how complete of a player he is, on and off the scoresheet.
Winner: Auston Matthews +2500
