Future Odds: The Rocket Richard Trophy

With the new NHL season only 40 days away, I wanted to keep my Future Odds series going with a look at the Rocket Richard Trophy for the league’s best goal scorer. This past season, Connor McDavid picked up the Rocket Richard with 64 goals and I was curious what the odds over at Betway said about whether or not he could do it again.

From my side of the TV screen, the Rocket Richard Trophy is one of my favourite NHL awards. It’s an award that doesn’t have voting or biases, the Rocket Richard simply goes to the player that puts the most pucks in the back of the net. It’s a beautiful thing, really. And at the end of the 2022-23 season, it was our man, Connor McDavid, who took home the award with 64 Ginos after what was undoubtedly a spectacular season. The thing I wanted to know is what the odds look like if a gentleman like myself wanted to put a few pennies down on the idea of him doing it again. All I’m saying is that I wanted to put together a little bit of information for those of us who partake, and as someone who likes to spice up the season with a few dollars here and there, the idea of McDavid doing McDavid things was more than enough to pique my curiosity.

Let’s check out the odds.

Even though I love seeing that Connor McDavid is favoured to repeat as the league’s best goal scorer, we all know that the odds are nothing more than where people are putting their money. As much as I agree with everyone throwing down on the mighty McDavid, the reality is that the betting markets will have no bearing on what will happen as the season actually plays out. The good news, however, is that I know that already. What I also know is that putting a few dollars on Connor McDavid to score 60+ again feels like a fun thing to do. Not only would I love watching him score bucket loads of goals again, but if him doing it can win me some money while I’m cheering him on then I feel like that’s a good way to spend a few months. Again, that’s just what I believe and not based on anything other than my eternal love for this hockey team. You, the reader, may feel differently.

Call me a homer all you want — it’s totally true and I’m not trying to hide it — but I believe Connor McDavid has the tools and the drive to do it again. And given that we’re all hoping that the 2023-24 campaign is the year they finally raise the Cup, making a few dollars watching our captain cash in plenty of goals on the journey to get there sounds like fun. But even if he doesn’t score enough goals to defend his Rocket Richard title, I’ll be sprinkling a little dash on Leon Draisaitl as a hedge just in case Connor wants to set some kind of assist record.

Just me? Can’t be.