The oddsmakers’ favorite to win the Calder Trophy is…..

The New York Rangers have the most hyped rookie this season, but he is not the favorite to win the Calder Trophy

For many, one of the joys of following sports is sports betting.   It has become a big business for professional sports and looks to become a major source of revenue for all pro leagues, including the NHL.  While most of the betting is on the outcome of games, there are also wagers to be made on award winners.  With two highly touted rookies on the roster, the New York Rangers are in the game.

According to the website SBD (sportsbettingdime.com) it’s not Alexis Lafrenière who is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy as top rookie.  It’s Igor Shesterkin.  Here are the top candidates and the odds:

1. Igor Shesterkin  (Rangers)            +175
2. Alexis Lafrenière  (Rangers)         +375
3. Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota)           +400
4. Grigori Denisenko (Florida)         +1000
5. Quinton Byfield (L.A. )                  +1200
6. Alex Turcotte (L.A.)                        +1400
7. Bowen Byram (Colorado)            +1500
8. Evan Bouchard (Edmonton)       +1800
9. Tim Stuetzle (Ottawa)                 +1800
10. Ilya Sorokin (Islanders)                +2500

The fact that the Rangers have the top two favorites for the rookie of the year honor is pretty special.

Of these ten players, only two have NHL experience and one of them is Shesterkin.  You have to believe that the excellence of the Ranger goalie’s 12 game stint with the Blueshirts is a major factor when it comes to his topping the list.

The other player with experience is the Oilers’ Evan Bouchard who had a seven game audition two  seasons ago.  The defenseman spent the entire last season with Bakersfield in the AHL.

With four Russians on the list, the fact that they have a KHL experience has to be a major factor for them.  The Wilds’ Kirill Kaprizov, 23, has been a star in that league for four years and had 33 goals and 62 points in 57 games for CSKA last season.   He and Shesterkin (24) are two of the older players on the list, another big reason for their high ranking.

The oldest player is Islanders rookie goalie Ilya Sorokin who is 25 years old. In 40 games for CSKA he had a 1.50  goals against average (GAA), a .935 save percentage (Sv%)  and a 26-10-3 record.   To compare, Shesterkin had  a 1.11 GAA, a .953 Sv% and a 24-4-0 record in his last year with SKA.  The rivalry between the Shesterkin and Sorokin will be one for New York fans to relish for many years to come.

But are they accurate?

If you bet the favorites before last season you didn’t do too well.  Going into the season, the favorites for the Calder were Jack Hughes (+250) and Kaapo Kakko (+260).   The eventual winner, Cale Makar, was third at +500.

Calder runner-up Quinn Hughes was sixth at +1200.  The next nine players to receive votes, including the Rangers’ Adam Fox, didn’t make the oddmakers top ten.

That changed once the season started.  By November, Makar had risen to the top of the list at +240 and off his hot start for the Sabres, Victor Olofsson was in second at +350, though Kakko was still fourth at +600 while Jack Hughes had dropped off the list.

By December, Kakko’s odds had dropped to +4500 while Makar was the runaway favorite at -250.  Hughes had also dropped to +3300.

Again, the fact that Makar had played very well in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Colorado after signing his first pro contract out of the UMass didn’t hurt his Calder Trophy odds so he was much more of a safe bet than Hughes or Kakko.

What’s interesting is that Adam Fox finished fourth in the Calder voting, but was not in the top rankings at all during the season.

The Calder Trophy and the Rangers

The Rangers haven’t had a Calder Trophy winner since Brian Leetch in 1989.

The last time a Ranger player even garnered a vote was Brady Skjei who got one vote in 2017 (Auston Matthews got 1,661 votes to win).

It feels like ages since the Rangers have had a Calder contender and it’s hard to believe that the Rangers, with eight winners are behind only the Toronto Maple Leafs (10)  and Chicago Blackhawks (9). Here’s a complete list of Rangers who have won the award:

• 1989:  Brian Leetch
• 1973: Steve  Vickers
• 1954: Camille Henry
• 1953: Gump Worsley
• 1949: Pentti Lund
• 1946: Edgar Laprade
• 1942: Grant Warwick
• 1940: Kilby MacDonald

The race for the Calder Trophy will begin for real in about a month.  Hopes are high among all Ranger fans that one of the two baby Blueshirts will take home the hardware for the first time in 32 years.