A goaltender hasn’t won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player since 2002, but Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price is the betting favourite at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com to take home that award in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.
A fellow Montreal goalie, Jose Theodore, was the last player at the position to win the Hart Trophy back in the 2001/02 season, and after dominating the National Hockey League this past year (44-16-6, 1.96 goals-against average, .933 save percentage) Price is set as the -2000 favourite to win the award at the sportsbooks.
Price’s top Hart Trophy competition is expected to be Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin, who sits at +500 odds and has won the award three times in the past (2008, 2009, 2013). New York Islanders forward John Tavares is the third Hart Trophy nominee, and he’s back at +1000 odds at the sportsbooks.
And while Price is a clear favourite on the odds to win the Hart Trophy, he’s a massive favourite on the odds to win the Vezina Trophy at -10000. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators is a distant second on those trophy odds at the sportsbooks at +650, with Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild rounding out the list at +1100.
Two defensemen from Canadian clubs sit atop the odds to win the Norris Trophy, with Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators the -400 favourite and P.K. Subban of the Canadiens at +275; Karlsson won the Norris in 2012, while Subban won it in 2013. Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, who is still looking for his first Norris Trophy, is at +600 odds for this year.
The Calder Trophy race for rookie of the year is expected to be tight, with Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau the -200 favourite at the sportsbooks over Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad (+170) and Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone (+500).
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Gaudreau’s bench boss Bob Hartley is the -550 favourite on the odds to win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year on Wednesday night, with Alain Vigneault of the New York Rangers second at +400 and Peter Laviolette of the Nashville Predators third at +500.
And in the other races, the Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar is listed as the -220 favourite at the sportsbooks to win the Lady Byng Trophy, with the Boston Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron the -300 favourite to win the Selke Trophy, and Price the -350 favourite to win the Ted Lindsay Award – which is given out by the NHLPA to the league’s most outstanding player.
