After following up his historic 2021-22 season with somewhat of a disappointing 2022-23 season by his standards, Auston Matthews has been given the third-best odds to win the 2023-24 Hart Trophy by the oddsmakers over at Betano.
Matthews is coming off yet another 40-goal season — his fifth in seven years — with 85 points in 74 games during the 2022-23 campaign and after potting home 60 goals and 106 points the prior season, I can understand why his 2022-23 season was a disappointment.
Although he put up 40 goals and 85 points in 74 games, he was still on pace for 44 goals and 94 points through a full 82-game season if he would have played in a full season.
According to the oddsmakers, Auston Matthews is among the players with the best odds to win the Hart Trophy again, and our friends over at Betano currently have him sitting with the third-best at +1200 just behind players like Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak, Matthew Tkachuk, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon.
2023-24 Hart Memorial Trophy odds:
Connor McDavid: +100
David Pastrnak: +1000
Matthew Tkachuk: +1000
Leon Draisaitl: +1000
Nathan MacKinnon: +1000
Auston Matthews: +1200
The players just behind Matthews are some pretty darn good players in their own right. Cale Makar, Nikita Kucherov, Jack Hughes, Kirill Kaprizov, and Jack Eichel are a few to name whose odds are +2400 or longer to win the Hart Trophy.
Matthews could become the first player in Toronto Maple Leafs history to win the award twice. When he won it back in 2021-2022, he became just the third player in franchise history to win.
Babe Pratt (1943-1944) and Ted Kennedy (1954-1955) are the two other players to win the award while wearing a Maple Leafs uniform, and given both times were before the league expanded from six teams, Auston Matthews could do something very special while being a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Matthews’ linemate Mitch Marner also has pretty decent odds at +7400 along with three others (Ilya Sorokin, Sebastian Aho and Kyle Connor) and he’s ahead of players like Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Linus Ullmark and many others.
More must-reads: