It may seem hard to believe, but the NHL season is upon us.
Training camps are here, and the regular season is less than a month away. That means it’s the perfect time to start considering a futures bet for the 2023-24 season.
Here’s a look at the Calder Trophy odds. The Calder Trophy is annually given to the NHL’s rookie of the year.
2024 NHL Calder Trophy Odds
Here are the top five betting favorites to win the 2024 Calder Trophy as of Sept. 14, 2023. Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook:
- Connor Bedard, C, Chicago Blackhawks (-140)
- Luke Hughes, D, New Jersey Devils (+700)
- Adam Fantilli, C, Columbus Blue Jackets (+1100)
- Devon Levi, G, Buffalo Sabres (+1200)
- Logan Cooley, C, Arizona Coyotes (+1200)
Bedard is the player everyone was tanking for last season, but he landed with the Blackhawks when they won the draft lottery. He’s the best prospect to enter the NHL since Auston Matthews in 2016-17 and could end up being better than the superstar Toronto Maple Leafs center.
Bedard is the overwhelming favorite, but it’s important to remember there are a number of factors that can come into play. For instance, Connor McDavid did not win the Calder because he was injured early in the season and missed half of his rookie campaign.
Check out more NHL odds.
2024 Calder Trophy Prediction
Connor Bedard, C, Chicago Blackhawks (-140)
DraftKings Sportsbook • WAGER: 1 Unit
The award is Bedard’s to lose.
Presumably only an injury can derail the No. 1 overall pick’s clear path to the rookie-of-the-year award. Even then, Bedard could persevere as McDavid nearly did, when he finished third despite missing 37 games due to a broken collarbone.
The odds on this aren’t lucrative, since the profit will only be $0.71 per dollar wagered. But they are only going to get worse if Bedard becomes the player everyone predicts. There’s no reason to believe he won’t either, since he’s coming off a record-setting season in both the Western Hockey League and World Junior Championship.
2024 Calder Trophy Contender
Luke Hughes, D, New Jersey Devils (+700)
The Devils are arguably the NHL’s best team, and Hughes showcased what he was capable of during his brief-but-meaningful five-game (two regular season, three postseason) performance in 2022-23.
Hughes, just as Cale Makar did in 2019-20, could use that small sample to catapult himself into a huge role with his big-league club. Makar won the Calder in 2020 after debuting during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Colorado, and there’s no reason to believe Hughes, the No. 4 pick of the 2021 NHL draft, isn’t on Makar’s level.
Hughes is about the only player capable of unseating Bedard without an injury, since the Devils defenseman is poised to have a huge role for New Jersey this season. But if you think Bedard could go down, Hughes would stand to be the primary beneficiary.
2024 Calder Trophy Sleeper Bet Pick
Leo Carlsson, C, Anaheim Ducks (+3000)
Carlsson was the surprise No. 2 pick behind only Bedard and ahead of Adam Fantilli, but he should have a prominent role on the up-and-coming Ducks.
Given Carlsson’s draft pedigree, it wouldn’t be stunning to see him become a Calder finalist. Carlsson has the benefit of playing against men in Sweden’s top league, and he held his own. If he could end up with a 40-to-50-point season as Anaheim’s No. 2 center, he certainly could be a finalist.
And if Bedard is injured, he could end up as the winner.
