Draft Kings disrespects Leafs goaltender in Vezina Trophy odds

The Toronto Maple Leafs have 6 Vezina Trophy winning seasons spread across 5 different goaltenders in Turk Broda, Al Rollins, Harry Lumley, Johnny Bower, and Terry Sawchuk. They haven't had a winner since Bower and Sawchuk shared the trophy in 1964-65.

Between 1927-1981, the Vezina Trophy was handed out to the team or goaltender that allowed the least amount of goals. Ahead of the 1981-82 season, the trophy was awarded to the most outstanding goaltender - as we know of it today.

Heading into the 2023-24 season, it doesn't seem that sportsbooks like Draft Kings or FanDuel believe the Leafs will have their first winner since 1965. Ilya Samsonov is currently 27th on Draft Kings at +7500 or 76x your money. He is tied with Jordan Binnington of St. Louis and Ville Husso of Detroit and trailing Carter Hart, Jeremy Swayman, Pyotr Kochetkov, Logan Thompson, and Akira Schmid among others.

The Leafs will be operating a 1A/1B tandem - most likely with Joseph Woll - and Samsonov has yet to start more than 40 games in his career. Nevertheless, even through a few injuries, Samsonov finished the 2022-23 season with a 27-10-5 record, a .919 SV%, and a 2.33 G.A.A. Those factors being the driving force behind his severely low odds of winning.

At the same time, you have Boston's tandem in Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman within the top-14, Carolina's tandem in Frederik Andersen and Kochetkov with the same odds, Logan Thompson ahead of his running mate in Adin Hill in Vegas, and Akira Schmid who has 24 career starts under his belt - all ahead of Samsonov.

On FanDuel it's eerily similar with Samsonov being +8000 alongside Woll, just behind Calgary Flames' backup goaltender, Dustin Wolf. We aren't beating the drum that Samsonov should be a heavy favourite to win the award, however being behind other tandems and backup goaltenders is a little strange.

Nevertheless, If you're looking for long-shot odds for a Vezina Trophy winner, Samsonov could be your guy at either +7500 or +8000 on different platforms as of today.

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