Connor McDavid is no stranger to winning NHL awards, including the Hart Trophy for MVP (three times), Ted Lindsay Award for most outstanding player (four times), and Art Ross Trophy for most points (five times) all by the age of 28.
However, one of his more peculiar distinctions is when he won the 2024 Conn Smythe Trophy, becoming the sixth player in NHL history to win playoff MVP as a member of the losing team in the Stanley Cup Final when his Edmonton Oilers fell to the Florida Panthers.
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The Oilers captain will have another shot at hoisting both the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy, and sportsbooks and bettors alike believe he's the man to beat. McDavid shows -120 odds to win the Conn Smythe, according to ESPN BET, and is as long as only +110 at other books. Assuming that holds, that would make him the shortest Conn Smythe favorite headed into the Stanley Cup Final since 2021, when Tampa Bay Lightning goalie -- and eventual winner -- Andrei Vasilevskiy was also +110, according to ESPN Research.
McDavid defied history by winning playoff MVP as a member of the losing team last time around, the first since 2003, which could explain why bookmakers are giving him even more respect than the +200 he had going into last year's Final. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Oilers are -130 favorites to win the Cup over the Panthers (+110), and that McDavid leads the playoffs in points (26). For comparison, his teammate Leon Draisaitl is just one point behind, has one more goal, and sits at +700 for the Conn Smythe, according to ESPN BET odds.
McDavid's major odds lead could also be chalked up to, in part, the public backing him at extraordinary levels. Since the beginning of the playoffs, the 28-year-old has taken the majority of handle at BetMGM, DraftKings and ESPN BET, which reports approximately a quarter of all money on him. Since the Final matchup was set on Thursday night, the wagers have continued to flood in on him, with DraftKings reporting a whopping 50% of money behind him over that time period.
The Canadian superstar opened the playoffs third (16-1) on the odds board behind Connor Hellebuyck (12-1) and Nathan MacKinnon (14-1) for the Conn Smythe Trophy, but continued to gain steam as those players and others were eliminated. Books have, thus, been trying to offload liability.
"The Oilers have been a losing result for us all season, and we hope anyone besides Connor McDavid or Sergei Bobrovsky wins the Conn Smythe trophy," BetMGM senior sports trader Matthew Rasp said in an email release.
The sportsbook also lists Panther forward Brad Marchand as a large liability. Bobrovsky (+260) and Aleksander Barkov (+425) are the only two players between McDavid and Draisaitl on ESPN BET's oddsboard.