Lots of the greatest gamers within the league, who might be competing for this yr’s Hart Trophy, will be discovered within the Pacific Division.
When you’re going by the stat of faces-of-the-league, the Pacific might have the crown. It’s a humiliation of riches with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the gathering of stars in Vegas, and a number of the different elite gamers on this division.
Right here’s a have a look at the 5 gamers with the shortest odds to win the NHL’s MVP award within the Pacific Division, with odds as of October 7.
Connor McDavid, C, Oilers (+200)
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid at the moment holds one of the best odds to win the Hart Trophy within the league at +200.
McDavid has received three Hart Trophies in his profession, most lately for the 2022-23 season.
Final yr, McDavid completed in tenth place within the Hart voting, incomes one second place vote. He completed the 2024-25 season with 26 objectives and 74 assists, tied for his lowest factors complete in a non-COVID-shortened season.
If McDavid can nonetheless be within the dialog in a down yr for him, he’s earned the spot of preseason Hart favourite.
Earlier this week, McDavid agreed to phrases on a two-year, $25 million contract extension, kicking his UFA-status a bit additional down the highway. That ought to remove some free company associated complications for the Oilers and likewise permit them a bit respiration room to proceed bettering the roster.
Is there something particular fueling McDavid’s standing as MVP favourite? I don’t suppose so. McDavid will at all times be a contender for the Hart Trophy, irrespective of the circumstances. Like Shohei Ohtani for MLB and Patrick Mahomes for the NFL.
Leon Draisaitl, C, Oilers (+1000)
McDavid’s co-star Leon Draisaitl is hoping to get again into the dialog for the Hart Trophy as soon as once more this yr.
Draisaitl received his first and solely Hart Trophy after the 2019-20 season, throughout which he scored 43 objectives and had 67 assists in 71 video games performed, main the league in all three classes in that shortened season.
He got here near successful it once more final season, ending in second place behind Connor Hellebuyck and receiving 53 first-place votes.
Draisaitl led the league in scoring with 52 objectives and led the league in game-winning objectives with 11. He additionally had 54 assists.
He most likely would’ve received the award final yr had he performed in a number of extra video games. He completed the yr with 71 video games performed, his lowest because the 2020-21 season.
Draisaitl will proceed to be a contender for the Hart Trophy this season and will turn into a much bigger one if we see him shouldering extra of Edmonton’s offensive tasks. Mainly, if McDavid is beneath his typical marks, then Draisaitl will most likely be a top-three finisher for the Hart voting.
How fortunate are Oilers followers that they get two MVP candidates on their group yearly? That has to translate to a Stanley Cup win in some unspecified time in the future, proper?
Jack Eichel, C, Golden Knights (+2800)
Vegas’ Jack Eichel might be contending for his first-ever Hart Trophy win this season.
Eichel had 28 objectives and 66 assists in 77 video games performed final season for the Golden Knights, the very best factors complete of his profession up to now. These numbers led him to a fifth-place end within the Hart voting, though he by no means actually felt like a contender.
Final season was Eichel’s greatest end within the MVP voting in his 10-year NHL profession.
For my part, Eichel may face a more difficult path in direction of a Hart Trophy win this season.
He hasn’t but put up the sorts of numbers that may vaunt him over his friends like Nathan MacKinnon, Draisaitl, or McDavid. We simply haven’t seen that type of manufacturing out of him but.
If he places up overwhelming numbers, clearly, he’ll be in consideration for a Hart win. However, how a lot of that may very well be attributed to his new teammate, Mitch Marner?
If Eichel is filling up the stat sheet, Marner must be as effectively. Now, this might result in a ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ situation, the place each forwards are within the dialog for a Hart Trophy win.
If the Knights are performing effectively this season and probably main the Division or Convention, I may see each Eichel and Marner being prime contenders for the Hart Trophy.
Quinn Hughes, D, Canucks (+4000)
Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes might be hoping to enhance his availability this season with the Canucks.
Hughes missed 14 video games final yr attributable to a sequence of undisclosed accidents. His snakebitten season not solely affected his personal manufacturing, dropping from 92 factors in 2023-24 to 76 factors in 2024-25, however the general success of Vancouver, which ended up lacking the playoffs.
The Canucks completed the yr with a 38-30-14 report, touchdown them fifth place within the Pacific.
Regardless of that, Hughes nonetheless completed third-place within the Norris Trophy voting a season after successful it for the primary time.
Hughes’ odds are solely this brief as a result of he’s an elite participant, and he deserves to be within the firm of gamers who are also +4000 for the award, like Marner behind him. However Hughes’ offensive sport or Vancouver’s standings must transform for him to be a significant contender for the Hart Trophy.
Mitch Marner, RW, Golden Knights (+4000)
Marner successful the Hart Trophy can be one of many extra entertaining outcomes of the 2025-26 season.
Successful league MVP a season after leaving the Maple Leafs may legitimately be the ultimate nail within the coffin for some Toronto followers. It may actually flip right into a humanitarian disaster in Ontario.
I believe it’s extra potential than the +4000 line suggests.
Marner’s barely sniffed a Hart Trophy win, although. The one instances he’s proven up within the voting totals had been final season and in 2023, the place he completed thirteenth each instances.
Even nonetheless, he has adequate numbers to be within the dialog. Final season, he completed the yr with 102 factors with 27 objectives and 75 assists.
It’s affordable to venture that these numbers may enhance with a doubtlessly greater function on the Golden Knights than he had with the Maple Leafs.
