McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, Early Hart Trophy Favourites: NHL Props, Odds

Jordan Ramsay
Last Updated: October 8, 2021

Two-time Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid has finished in the top-five of voting every year since the 2016-17 season, so it’s no surprise to see him open as a +149 favourite to repeat and win a third league MVP in 2021-22. It’s worth noting, however, that Edmonton is far from being considered a playoff-lock and it’s been 33 years since the Hart was awarded to a player on a non-playoff team. Combine that, with players like Auston Matthews and Nathan MacKinnon nipping at McDavid’s heels, and you can see the Oilers captain isn’t guaranteed anything this season.

Make sure to check out Sports Interaction’s NHL props, NHL futures and NHL games pages for a full list of odds.

Connor McDavid +149

Connor McDavid was so dominating last season, he became just the second unanimous Hart Trophy winner in league history, following Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82. McDavid posted 105 points in 56 games, 21 points more than the next leading scorer, his teammate Leon Draisaitl. If you took away all 33 of McDavid’s goals, he still would have finished second in league scoring. According to most ‘era adjusted point total’ projections, it was the ninth-best offensive season in NHL history.

The biggest knock to McDavid’s case to repeat as Hart Trophy winner will be if the Oilers miss out on the playoffs. It’s not like the Pacific Division is known as the juggernaut of the NHL right now, but that first-round sweep in the playoffs against Winnipeg last year is telling. No one on a non-playoff team has won the award since Mario Lemieux in 1988 and I don’t see that changing. If McDavid wants some more hardware, the Oilers need to make the playoffs.

Auston Matthews +618

Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner, is coming off his third career 40+ goal season and he has clearly established himself as the premier goal scorer in the NHL. He would have eclipsed the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career last year if not for the shortened season and I fully expect him to hit 50 in 2021-22 and even push for 60. Matthews is on a better team than McDavid and it would be shocking to see the Leafs miss the playoffs this year even with the team moving back to the tougher Atlantic Division. If Matthews can hit 60 goals and bring Toronto to the playoffs, give him the Hart Trophy. If Matthews can help the Leafs actually win a first-round series, give him the keys to the city.

Nathan MacKinnon +646

The Colorado Avalanche, last year’s President’s Trophy winners, come in as +506 favourites to win the 2022 Stanley Cup and a large part of that is due to MacKinnon. The Nova Scotia native put up 65 points in 48 regular season games last year. He also added another 15 points in 10 playoff games. MacKinnon is the only player who can rival McDavid in terms of speed and dominance when he is on the ice. Over the past four seasons, MacKinnon has finished second, sixth, second and third in Hart voting and debatably should have won the award in 2018. No one has looked more fired up for the next year in a season-ending media availability than MacKinnon did after the Avalanche were eliminated for the playoffs last year. Bank on MacKinnon having a monster 2021-22 season.