Sabres Among Betting Odds Favorites For ’24 Awards

The Buffalo Sabres are expected to compete for an Eastern Conference postseason berth after making great strides and just missing the playoffs last season, and correspondingly some Sabres players are among the betting odds favorites for various NHL awards for 2023-24.

Disregard the small NHL sample size, the amount of poise and talent Devon Levi shows right out of college in massive situations with a postseason still on the line for the Sabres tells you he needs to begin next season in Buffalo @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/Ai0d1Rfqz1

— Julianne Pelusi (@JuliannePelusi) April 11, 2023

Sabres rookie goaltender Devon Levi is third by DraftKings in odds to win the Calder Trophy at +850 behind 2023 top pick Connor Bedard and New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes. Levi, who went 5-2 for Buffalo last season after leaving Northeastern University is expected to get the majority of the starts in goal next season.

Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who scored a career-high 73 points last season is ranked third at +800 for winning the Norris Trophy behind two previous winners, Colorado’s Cale Makar and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers.

Center Tage Thompson, coming off a career-high 47-goal season, is considered a longshot at +2500 for both the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player and the Rocket Richard Trophy for the player scoring the most goals in a season.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid is the favorite (+125) to win the Hart for the second straight season, followed by Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (+700), Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (+800), Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (+1000), Kirill Kaprizov, David Pastrnak, and Auston Matthews (+1500), and Jack Hughes (+2000).

McDavid is the favorite for the Rocket (according to FanDuel) at +300, with Matthews at +600, Pastrnak at +700, Draisaitl at +800, MacKinnon at +900, Tkachuk, Hughes, and Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen at +1200, and Thompson and Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson at +2500.

Sabres Move Up In 2020 Re-Draft

In a column re-drafting the 2020 NHL Draft, the Athletic’s Scott Wheeler moved Sabres top pick Jack Quinn two spots to #10 and had Buffalo selecting Carolina forward Seth Jarvis at #8. Winger J-J Peterka, who was taken in the second round, moved up into the middle of the first round to be selected by Toronto at #15, and Levi, who was a seventh-rounder of the Florida Panthers, made the greatest jump moving up to #13 to be selected by the Hurricanes.