After Quinn Hughes' breakout season in 2023-2024, a number of talented defensemen will look to take home the award next summer.
With the NHL season approaching, oddsmakers have begun to display the leaders for who could take home each individual award at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Last year, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes took home the Norris Trophy award, handed out to the best overall performing defenseman for that respective season.
After finishing with 92 points and helping the Canucks win the Pacific division, Hughes was the clear top choice for voters at the end of 2023-2024. Unfortunately, Hughes was unable to assist Vancouver in reaching the Stanley Cup Final, ultimately losing in the second round of the Playoffs to the Edmonton Oilers.
Despite finally breaking out and claiming the Norris Trophy last season, Hughes is currently tied for the second-best odds on FanDuel sportsbook to have a repeat performance during the upcoming year. Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche leads the way with odds of +280, while Hughes and New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox are listed at +600. The favoritism shown towards Makar is due to his unmirrored skill on both offense and defense, having won the award at the end of 2021-2022 season as well and capping it off with a Stanley Cup victory.
The Avalanche are also typically seen as one of the best teams in the NHL ahead of play beginning by most sportsbooks, so it should be no surprise to see Makar favored on FanDuel as well as other operators. Fox had a down year by his standards in 2023-2024, but when right, is one of the best defenseman in hockey as proven by his Norris Trophy win in 2020-2021. Fox scored 73 points last year, on pace with his Norris-winning season but dealt with injuries that clearly impacted his play throughout the regular season and playoffs.
Fox’s Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason, but fell to the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers in six games. If he can remain healthy for this upcoming season and the Rangers can continue to be one of the best performing teams in hockey, Fox should stand a great chance of cashing in on his +600 odds. The Rangers also re-signed Fox’s linemate Ryan Lindgren this offseason, so the Harvard graduate should feel as comfortable as ever heading into the new year.
Going back to the Oilers, Evan Bouchard is listed behind Hughes and Fox with odds of +750 after a sensational playoff performance that saw him score the most points of any defenseman. Bouchard was responsible for backpacking a struggling Edmonton defense that has tried to find stopgap options over the past few years. Heading into the 2024-2025 season, Bouchard is once again one of the only defensemen on the Oilers that can be trusted to perform adequately throughout the year, which could be why he has received so much attention from operators such as FanDuel.
The Oilers are currently the favorites on FanDuel to win the Stanley Cup this season, as the team could be highly motivated after losing to the Panthers in the Finals and watching as its star player Connor McDavid had to accept the Conn Smythe award despite not having won the Cup. With McDavid and Bouchard in place, as well as extending its other star player in Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton is primed to make a deep playoff run and possibly win its first title since 1990.
Behind Bouchard is Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators, a team that made some major signings this offseason in hopes of competing in the Playoffs this season. The Predators brought in center Steven Stamkos from the Tampa Bay Lightning and Jonathan Marchessault of the Vegas Golden Knights, both having championship-winning pedigrees with their former clubs. Nashville also signed Brady Skjei from the Carolina Hurricanes, bringing the total value of the three contracts to over $100m, showing a clear commitment to winning from the franchise.
A couple of interesting names with longer odds also appear on FanDuel, including Dougie Hamilton at +3600. The New Jersey Devils were a team of disaster last season, dealing with numerous injuries and failing to find a consistent goalie until finally trading for Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames this offseason.
With the return of Hamilton, who missed almost all of last season with a torn pectoral injury, and the addition of Markstrom, New Jersey could be among the top teams in the Metropolitan division during 2024-2025. If Hamilton can play to his top form and enjoy the support of having a reliable netminder, his name could shoot up the board of potential Norris Trophy winners before long into the season.
One other intriguing name to watch out for is Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was acquired by the team during the previous offseason. In his first season with the franchise, Karlsson scored 56 points and led the Penguins power play with stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The former Ottawa Senator and San Jose Shark could easily rack up numerous points playing with the two future Hall of Famers, just as he did when he won the Norris Trophy with San Jose in 2022-2023. During that year, Karlsson scored 101 points and was magnificent both as a play-driver and in defensive support, something he could easily replicate with improvement from the Pittsburgh squad this season.
The NHL season can’t come soon enough for fans of the sport, as so many storylines are waiting to play out and teams are itching to hit the ice this fall. As of now, though, bettors are left to search through futures odds including those for awards such as the Norris Trophy. With the field of talented defensemen growing each year and young talent coming up through the pipeline, odds are constantly changing especially once play begins. This is why it's important for interested users of any operator to find the best odds now, before players start to prove why they should be considered the favorite each season.
