NHL Futures and Player Awards
NHL Betting Guide author Jonny Lazarus wrote up his favorite futures and player awards props. Be sure to get your copy of the VSiN NHL Betting Guide by become a VSiN Pro Subscriber. An annual subscription costs just 66 cents per day and gets all of our content for a full year, including Jonny’s best bets five days a week throughout the season.
Team To Win The Presidents Trophy (most regular season points)
Edmonton Oilers +800 (DraftKings)
The Oilers finished as the sixth-best team in the 2022-23 regular season, boasting a record of 50-23-9 for a total of 109 points. Obviously, they came up short on the ultimate goal after losing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion, the Vegas Golden Knights, in six games during the second round. That being said, out of the four opponents that the Golden Knights played, the Oilers gave them their biggest challenge.
For two straight years, the Oilers have lost in the playoffs to the eventual Stanley Cup champion. I am expecting them to be an even more motivated group this year.
The Oilers are absolutely loaded up front, but they are led by the two best forwards in the National Hockey League, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. who are tired of the disappointing endings to a season. McDavid and Draisaitl led the league in scoring by an absolute landslide. McDavid finished with 64 goals and 89 assists for a total of 153 points, while his running mate, Draisaitl, tallied 52 goals with 76 assists for 128 points.
The biggest question mark for Edmonton will always be their goaltending. Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell shared a majority of the time in the blue paint, but Skinner appeared to emerge as the team’s No. 1 guy. He finished the regular season with a .914 save percentage and a 2.75 goals against average, but struggled in the playoffs as he skated to a .883 save percentage with a 3.68 goals against average.
The Oilers power play is by far the most elite in the entire league and I don’t see that changing anytime soon with the roster that they have in place. They had an unbelievable 46.2% success rate in the playoffs, which was easily the most successful while also leading this category in the regular season, scoring at a 32.4% rate.
I have a strong feeling that this is the Oilers’ year.
Calder Trophy Winner (Rookie of the Year)
Devon Levi +1200 (DraftKings)
The last goalie to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year was Steve Mason in 2008-09 with the Columbus Blue Jackets. All of the talk about the potential winner of this year’s award is surrounding Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli. While it’s warranted to hype those players up, Levi is on a better team than both of them. The Buffalo Sabres can make some noise this season, while Chicago and Columbus will most likely finish towards the bottom of the league. If the Sabres are successful, Levi will be one of the main reasons.
Another edge that Levi has over anyone is that he has already experienced some NHL games. He had seven starts last season and earned five wins while skating to a .905 save percentage and a 2.94 goals against average. He also had a +3.1 goals saved above expected. When Mason won the award, he had a .916 save percentage and a 2.29 goals against average, which isn’t that much better than what we’ve seen from Levi already.
The talent in this rookie class is unbelievable, but it’s been 15 years since we’ve seen a goalie win the Calder. The hype around Levi is real and we’re due to see a netminder win the Rookie of the Year.
Player To Win The Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman)
Miro Heiskanen +1400 (DraftKings)
Somehow, someway, Heiskanen has become an underrated defenseman in the NHL. He finished tied for fifth in points last year (with Brandon Montour and Rasmus Dahlin), tallying 73 in 79 games played. The 24-year-old third overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft has yet to even enter his prime and he is coming off of a breakout season. He doubled his point total from 2021-22 and set new career highs in goals (11), assists (62) and points (73).
Why I love Heiskanen so much this season is because the Dallas Stars are elite. They finished one point shy of winning the Central Division (108 points) and they made a trip to the Western Conference Finals. Dallas is a very deep team that is built to sustain success throughout the regular season and with Heiskanen being their No. 1 guy on the blue line, as well as the quarterback on the power play, he could light it up this season.
The Stars had the fifth-best man-advantage unit in the league last season (25%) and the success was largely due to the play of Heiskanen, who finished tied for the most power-play points amongst defensemen with 34. The expectations are high in Dallas this season and Heiskanen could get them over the hump.
Player To Win The Rocket Richard Trophy (most regular season goals)
Mikko Rantanen +1400 (DraftKings)
Is it possible that Rantanen had the quietest 55-goal season ever? Colorado was an interesting team last year because they were defending their throne as the Stanley Cup champions, but their team felt nowhere near the same as we saw in the spring of 2022. Rantanen, however, stepped up when the team needed him most and was able to score at will, while other star players like Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon missed time due to injury.
Rantanen’s goal-scoring has continued to increase year by year. In 2020-21, he tallied 30 goals for the second time in his career, which led him to score 36 in 2021-22, followed by the incredible 55 in 2022-23. So, this begs the question, how will Rantanen follow up his breakout season from last year? It appears that he’ll be on a line with MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, which could be a very dangerous pairing, while also playing on one of the most elite power plays in the NHL.
As good as the Oilers are and I know the Golden Knights are the defending Stanley Cup champions, but in my opinion, the West still runs through Colorado.
Rantanen certainly has the ceiling to lead this league in goals if the Avalanche can stay healthy.
Odds to Make/Miss the Playoffs
Florida Panthers To Miss The Playoffs: +180 (DraftKings)
The Florida Panthers’ magical run last spring was nothing short of incredible, but it’s going to cost them in the 2023-24 season. This is a group that overcame a ton of adversity last season, but they are starting the new year with some challenges and lingering injuries from their run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Eastern Conference is incredibly strong and missing two of their top defenseman to start the year might put them in a bit of a hole. They will be without Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad. Of course I’m aware of what this team has been able to accomplish when shorthanded, but I don’t think they had enough time off to fully recover.
I know these aren’t the craziest odds, but I think it’s a great bet.
Ottawa Senators To Make The Playoffs: +130 (DraftKings)
I am all over the Ottawa Senators this season. Something about this group just screams to me and I think it all starts with their captain, Brady Tkachuk, who might be one of the most underrated leaders in all of sports. Tkachuk is the heartbeat of this team and brings a ton of swagger to this group, but when you surround him with other talented players like Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux, and Vladimir Tarasenko up front, they’re scary.
Not to mention the elite talent that they have on their back-end with Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson, and Jakob Chychrun. They took a ton of positive steps in the right direction last season and I feel strongly that this is the year that they break through.
They will be a fun team to follow.
Long-shot Prop Bet
Juuse Saros To Record 60+ Saves In Any Game: +2500 (DraftKings)
This bet is such a hidden gem. The Nashville Predators allowed the sixth-most shots on goal against per game last season (33.6), but there were so many nights where Juuse Saros got peppered. The Predators were a total disaster in their defensive zone last season, especially on the night of January 5th, 2023 when Saros recorded 64 saves in a win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s certainly possible for this rebuilding Predators team to have another night like this one and Saros is strong enough to stand on his head any given night that he’s in the blue paint.
