Preseason odds for the Hart Trophy have been announced, and newly acquired Sabres forward Taylor Hall has better odds to win the league MVP award than Jack Eichel.
The preseason odds for the Hart Memorial Trophy have been released, along with other awards, and for Buffalo Sabres fans, there is one thing that may come as a surprise. Newly acquired star Taylor Hall currently has better odds to win the league MVP award than Jack Eichel.
According to betonline.ag, Taylor Hall is currently at +2800 to win the award, and Eichel is +3300. The current favorite to win the Hart Trophy is Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid at +400.
Hall recently won the Hart Trophy after he posted 39 goals and 93 points in the 2017-2018 season with the New Jersey Devils. So, it is not that he is not capable of putting an MVP season together, it just may come as a surprise to Sabres fans that he has better odds than Jack Eichel.
Jack Eichel finished in eighth place in Hart Trophy voting after the 2019-2020 season. Eichel finished last season with 36 goals and 78 points in 68 games. Jack also came in with decent odds to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (most goals) at +2000, and also for the Art Ross Trophy (most points) at +2500.
For Sabres fans, arguing over which of your stars should be higher on the preseason odds for MVP is not a bad problem to have. It is just nice to have multiple players in the conversation.
Eichel and Hall were not the only Sabres to appear on the list of potential award winners for this upcoming season. The Sabres had other names appear on lists for awards such as the Vezina Trophy, the James Norris Memorial Trophy, and the Calder Memorial Trophy.
Rasmus Dahlin appeared on the James Norris Trophy (best defenseman) odds list with odds of +3300. Sabres defenseman Ramus Ristolainen also appeared on this list, but with much lower odds, coming in at +6600.
Sabres rookie Dylan Cozens appeared with +3300 odds to win the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year). He looks primed to start the season on the Sabres roster this year.
Linus Ullmark also came in as a long shot to win the Vezina Trophy (best goalkeeper). Ullmark opened with +5000 odds to win the award.
There are plenty of names from Buffalo that are making appearances on these preseason odds lists for awards, which is promising for the upcoming season. Even though they don’t have any favorites, it shows that the Sabres have some quality pieces to build a winning team with.