We're just about halfway through the NHL season with many awards races coming down to the wire like the Art Ross in going to be a tight one with Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton's Connor McDavid far and ahead of the pack but are still one point within each other. The Vezina trophy race is also tightly contested with New York's Ilya Sorokin recently overtaking Washington's Logan Thompson as the new favourite. It's made for some exciting storylines and although there are many more awards to give out at the end of this season, some appear to be already locked up with sportsbooks not giving an inch when it comes to value on these award races that they view as over and done with. Here are some of the awards that are seemingly locked up when it comes to the betting odds. CALDER TROPHY - MATTHEW SCHAEFER (-526) Despite no defenseman having won the Calder trophy in consecutive years since since 1963 and 1964, when Toronto’s Kent Douglas and Montreal’s Jacques Laperrière, Schaefer has the chance to break another record as the Islanders breakout star has been sensational this season. The Hamilton native leads all rookie defenseman in almost every category outside of assists where Chicago's Artyom Levshunov has him beat by one. Schaefer has been thrust into one of the biggest roles on a team in the NHL as the 18-year-old rookie ranks 23rd in average time on ice per game, he plays on the team's top defense pairing and works as the first power play unit's quarterback on the blue line. When the Islanders have moved, it has likely been with Schaefer pushing from behind. The young, energetic defenseman has brought new life to New York and his 29 points in 43 games has him ranked third on the team in scoring. He's making a solid case for the Norris let alone the Calder. NORRIS TROPHY - CALE MAKAR (-476) No defenseman has been very close to Makar this season as he leads all blueliners in assists (36) and points (48) while ranking second in plus/minus with a plus-30 rating, second in even-strength points (32) and plays the seventh-most minutes on average per night (25:05). With how hot the Avalanche have been rolling through the NHL as of late, it appears Makar should stay this way all season long and put up his third consecutive 90-point season. The Avalanche have lost some steam lately but with how they're looking this season, it's hard to go against the defending Norris trophy winner. Makar would be the first player to win the award in back-to-back seasons since Nicklas Lindstrom when he won three straight years from 2006 to 2008. HART TROPHY - NATHAN MACKINNON (-333) Like we mentioned with Makar, the Avalanche have slowly lost steam thanks to two straight losses but this doesn't ignore the sensational season that MacKinnon is having. The 30-year-old Nova Scotia native has been lights out this season with 35 goals and 39 assists for 74 points in just 42 games. MacKinnon has surpassed 110 points in each of the last three seasons with his best season being 2023-24 when he recorded 140 points and won the Hart trophy. That season, he recorded a career-high 51 goals and he is surprisingly on pace to blow past this mark as his 35 goals this season is already three more than all he got last season and his current pace leaves him on track to surpass 70 goals which has not been done since Toronto's Auston Matthews came close to surpassing the 70-goal mark during MacKinnon's MVP season in 2023-24. If MacKinnon can make history and be the first person to record 70 goals since Alexander Mogilny in 1992-93, while also recording over 140 points, he's a lock to win the award. All betting lines are from BetMGM Sportsbook [https://www.on.betmgm.ca/en/sports/hockey-12/betting/usa-9/nhl-34] and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly. Sign up with BetMGM [https://www.on.betmgm.ca/en/p/promotions/sports/first-bet-offer], make a deposit, and place your first wager on any game using your First Bet Offer token. If that bet with the token applied loses, you’ll get your original stake paid back in Bonus Bets, up to $1,500! Get in the game today with BetMGM.
