It’s a two-way race atop the odds to win the Art Ross Trophy for the upcoming NHL season, with Connor McDavid joining reigning scoring champion Nikita Kucherov as plus-275 co-favourites on that NHL betting prop at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Kucherov outpaced all other skaters in NHL scoring last season, piling up 41 goals and 87 assists for 128 points. The 26-year-old is also off to a fast start in pre-season action, potting three goals in three appearances, and will be looking to join McDavid as the only players to record three straight 100-point campaigns since Alexander Ovechkin achieved the feat back in 2010.
The winner of the Art Ross Trophy in two of the past three seasons, McDavid is coming off a career-best 116-point campaign in Edmonton. The 22-year-old has consistently posted impressive numbers since being selected first overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, averaging 1.30 points per game through his first four NHL seasons. McDavid has also been heavily leaned on by an otherwise offensively challenged Oilers squad, and combined with linemate Leon Draisaitl to produce over 39 per cent of the team’s goals last season.
Further down the Art Ross Trophy odds, Sidney Crosby is joined by fellow Nova Scotia native Nathan McKinnon at plus-1100 at sports betting sites. Patrick Kane follows at plus-1800, while Toronto Maple Leaf teammates John Tavares and Auston Matthews sit alongside Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov at plus-2000.
A two-time Art Ross winner, Crosby reached the 100-point plateau for the sixth time in his career last season, ending a stretch of four straight seasons in which he compiled fewer than 90 points. MacKinnon played a key role in the Colorado Avalanche’s return to respectability last season, reaching the 40-goal mark for the first time while amassing 99 points.
MacKinnon’s emergence as an elite NHL point producer has also had an impact on the Avalanche’s fortunes on the NHL futures, where they sit as plus-250 favourites to finish atop the Central Division, and at plus-1300 on the Stanley Cup odds. Kane rebounded from his worst season in six years to score a career-high 110 points last season, and will be central to the Chicago Blackhawks’ bid to return to playoff contention in 2018/19.
Over in Toronto, high expectations await Tavares after he produced a career-best 88 points in his first season with the Maple Leafs. And while Matthews has averaged a respectable 0.97 points per game over his three years in the NHL, he must avoid the injuries that have forced him to miss 34 total games over the past two seasons.
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