Why Connor McDavid Can Repeat as Hart Trophy Winner Next Season

Edmonton Oilers star Conor McDavid is seeking to win back-to-back Hart trophies and the third of his career. He is the early season favorite in the NHL betting, coming in at odds of +400 to win the trophy.

2021 Unanimous MVP

Conor McDavid was the unanimous Hart trophy winner in 2021 after being the first player since 1982 to receive 100 votes to win the MVP. McDavid put up a staggering 105 points in just 56 games. The 24-year-old has been back on the ice early this season as he is looking to improve even further and tighten up his defense, which could even further his chances of winning this year’s Hart trophy. He said, “This is one of those weeks where guys are really trying to ramp it up and dial in their details, and I'm no different,'' McDavid told The Associated Press.

McDavid is widely regarded as the best hockey player in the world and looking at his career numbers it’s hard to argue against that case. With a total of 574 career points in just 407 games played, totaling 196 goals and 379 assists. The number 1 pick in 2015 said he feels he is just entering his prime. McDavid put up 21 more points than second place in the points standings last season and that was his teammate, Leon Draisaitl, who no doubt finished in second place thanks to the attributed from playing alongside the best player in the world. Is it any wonder the pair also finished inside the top two in the points leader board in 2019-20 also?

https://twitter.com/cmcdavid97/status/1394713479332995072?s=20

Edmonton Oilers

Another prime reason why we think that McDavid can become the 2022 MVP is due to the role within his team, the Oilers basically play everything through McDavid, and rightfully so, he is the best Hockey player in the league these days. With him being the main focus it will always lean more towards his stats increasing or looking better than say if he was with a team with a few egos. There is also the weight on his shoulders because he is the main cog in the Oilers being a success or not over the next five seasons.

With a little better defense, the Oilers could make that step in becoming a top 8 team, right now their somewhere between 9th and 14th in our opinion. McDavid has proven in the past that he can win the Hart trophy regardless of where the Oilers end up, so making it into the second or third playoff round this year would certainly be a huge advantage to his chances of becoming Hart trophy winner in 2022.

Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers skates. Codie McLachlan/Getty Images/AFP

Why Is McDavid So Good?

McDavid pulls of some of the slickest hockey skills on the ice and when he skates it’s almost like he is breezing across the top of the ice, along with the fact he possesses a lot of speed and is one of the fastest skaters in the league, especially amongst the top-ranked players. You know when he is on the ice because even none hockey fans can tell this guy is something a bit different, he is almost like a Tom Brady or Cristiano Ronaldo in the sense that he is a generational player.

He is also known for his very high level of “hockey intelligence” and can read the game like a book, he knows when to slow the play down and when to rush the opposition. He carries himself with dignity and grace considering the pressure of not only being Captain at such a young age and the weight of all the expectations on his shoulders.

Is He Worth Betting?

So the big question is should you play a futures bet on McDavid to be the Hart Memorial Trophy winner at +400? In some places as low as +320 now. It’s clearly hard to bet against McDavid winning it for the third year in a row considering all the factors we just discussed. In the worst-case scenario he ends up in 2nd place in our opinion, meaning we believe he should be around +100, even if you want to go one further and say top 3, that would mean we would still see his odds as +200, then we are getting value on him down to +200, so anything above is worth a bet at top sportsbooks.