It is honestly mind-blowing that there are two players on the same team at the genuine superstar status. One is en route to being only the second player to break 2000 career points and the other leads the team in points this year. One is an MVP of the league and the other is a three-time MVP. One is the best player in the world and the other is the best player on the team. Now how could that be true? In this economy?
As fantastic as Connor McDavid is, Leon Draisaitl is doing his level best to convince us that he is the better player and whether or not that is the case, come awards day it looks like Draisaitl will be taking the stage more often. Here are some of the awards the Oilers have a chance at.
The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy
This is given to the NHL’s top goal scorer. The first, and most likely for Draisaitl to claim is that pesky Rocket Richard Trophy. Draisaitl has finished in the top five in goals every year since 2018–19 except last year. Twice he finished second. This year though he has 31 goals and a commanding six-goal lead on second place Brayden Point and Mikko Rantanen. At -200 he is the odds on favourite to win the Rocket Richard Trophy.
At the start of the season there was hope that Zach Hyman may be able to repeat or surmount his astounding 54-goal campaign from last year and challenge for the Richard, but at only 13 goals halfway through the season, 18 behind the leader Draisaitl, there is essentially no hope of him catching up.
The Hart Memorial Trophy
This trophy is given to the player to be the most valuable to his team. This is a tougher go for Draisaitl since the award is given “to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team” and even though Draisaitl carries around a lot on his shoulders, he also gets a lot of help from McDavid. Under that interpretation, players like Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov, and Marty Necas will get attention. That being said, in the last 10 years the Hart has gone to the leading point scorer six times so Nathan MacKinnon should be the current favourite, instead McDavid is actually the favourite at +280, followed by Karpizov and MacKinnon tied at +350. Draisaitl still has plenty of time to catch MacKinnon in points though.
McDavid is essentially in the same boat as Draisaitl for the Hart trophy. They are neck and neck in points and are of approximately equal value to their team so far this year. McDavid may have the best odds at +280 but I would still give the edge to MacKinnon.
The Art Ross Trophy
Next up is the Art Ross Trophy which is for most points in the league. Honestly, this will be tough for Draisaitl as MacKinnon looks to be at the height of his powers and currently holds a seven-point lead with 68 total points. Colorado has got the plethora of players that they were missing due to injury at the start of the season back and they’ve won eight of their last 10, so MacKinnon will be hard to catch. MacKinnon is currently the favourite at -130 followed by McDavid at +220, Kucherov at +425, and then Draisaitl at +600.
McDavid is trailing Draisaitl by only three points so far and McDavid may have the slight edge, just based on their performance in past years, in general McDavid is slightly more consistent.
Frank J. Selke Trophy
Draisaitl is also in the race for the Selke Trophy. This is a new dimension to Draisaitl’s game as he was, before this season, mostly an offensive forward but he has proved more than capable defensively as well this season. This award is rarely given to players who are also offensively dominant, and also rarely given to those who contribute very little offensively however defensively effective they may be, despite the spirit of the award.
So Draisaitl may be passed over for this award as well. Even now the odds are Barkov at -250, Hischier at +300, Reinhart at +750, Marner at +2000, Cirelli at +2000, then finally Draisaitl at +2500.
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
Draisaitl may also see votes for the Lady Byng but since it is, like the Selke trophy, rarely given to league point leaders, players with less points and a higher point/PIM stat like Eichel at 8.83 or Jack Hughes at 8.33 will likely get more looks. Draisaitl does sit 4th among the top ten point scorers in this stat at 4.35 though, he only has 14 penalty minutes so far this year.
McDavid should also get votes for the Lady Byng, one of the few trophies that has eluded him. The fact that he has never won is proof that they rarely choose a player at the top of the points leaderboard. McDavid has led the league in points twice while only taking 20 PIM and did not win the Lady Byng award. For this reason, even though he also only has 14 PIM so far this season, I wouldn’t expect him to win.
If Hyman or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were able to amp up their scoring in the second half of the season they could have a shot at the Lady Byng. Neither take many penalties and they wouldn’t likely be among the point leaders.
The Other hopefuls
Even though Kris Knoblauch is very unlikely to win the Jack Adams for coach of the year, since the award usually goes to the coach of a team who performs much better than the previous year, and record-wise Edmonton hasn’t improved too much over last year, the Oilers 26–13–3 half-way record is actually the best year since 1986–87. So really his odds should be better than the +10000 that they are now.
The Ted Lindsay is so often given to the winner of the Hart Trophy that Draisaitl and McDavids odds of winning the Ted Lindsay are pretty much the same as they are of winning the Hart.
Bouchard is unfortuantely far down the list of Norris Trophy candidates so far at +15000, while he isn’t having the same year he did last year, either offensively or defensively, he is still on track for a 62-point season.
Though he has turned his season around, Stuart Skinner and his moustache would have to play out of their collective minds in order to have a shot at the Vezina Trophy for best goalie, and the incredible season that Connor Hellebuyck is having doesn’t help matters. What Skinner and maybe Pickard have a better chance at is the Jennings Trophy, “given to the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it, selected based on regular-season play.” Edmonton has the eighth lowest GA total at 114, 20 above the Los Angeles Kings at 96. I wouldn’t consider it likely that that changes by the end of the season but it is certainly possible.
In the end, we all know what the individual Oilers would say about individual awards. They don’t care about them, all that matters is the Stanley Cup. The fans do care about them though, gives them bragging rights over the many deceived individuals who cheer for lesser teams.
