Matthews surprisingly not favoured to win the Rocket Richard Trophy in 2024, but he's close
Connor McDavid had an absolutely ridiculous 2022-23 season, where he scored 64 goals and 153 points, capturing the Hart Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award, the Art Ross Trophy, and the Rocket Richard Trophy for his efforts.
His 64 goals paced the NHL and earned him the first Rocket Richard Trophy of his career, which had been previously won by Auston Matthews in consecutive seasons. Heading into the 2023-24 season, oddsmakers have McDavid as the favourite to claim his 2nd Rocket Richard with Matthews right behind him.
Betano has McDavid at +230, Matthews at +600, and David Pastrnak and Leon Draisaitl tied for third at +700. DraftKings currently has McDavid at +220, Matthws +550, Draisaitl +700, and Pastrnak +900.
Matthews is coming off a season where he scored 40 goals in 74 games but was dealing with a wrist injury for a large portion of he 2022-23 campaign. He was often spotted wearing a wrist brace and didn't look as comfortable last season, coming off of offseason wrist surgery. That should change this year, coming into the season at much closer to 100% than he had been at any point last season.
Over his career Matthews has scored 299 goals in just 481 games and he has yet to score less than 34 goals in a season - factoring in that those 34 goals came in just 62 games.
Health permitting, we get to see the best version of Matthews skating within the confines of the Scotiabank Arena as he looks to earn himself his 3rd Rocket Richard Trophy in 4 years. There's going to be stiff competition at the very top with McDavid, Draisaitl, and Pastrnak being just as consistent.
In their last 3 seasons:
Matthews: 141 goals in 199 games
McDavid: 141 goals in 218 games
Draisaitl: 138 goals in 216 games
Pastrnak: 121 goals in 202 games
Arguably the best goal scorer in the league today, Matthews has been scoring at a ridiculous clip of 0.71 goals per game in the last 3 seasons and 0.62 over his career and just based off the last 3 seasons, he washes his competition.
The odds for Matthews on most sportsbooks are the same so if you're looking for the best value heading into the new season, Matthews at +600 on Betano is looking pretty good right now.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 21 | 151 ANSWERS Matthews surprisingly not favoured to win the Rocket Richard Trophy in 2024, but he's close Will Auston Matthews capture his 3rd Rocket Richard Trophy in 4 years this season? | ||
| Yes | 82 | 54.3 % |
| No | 69 | 45.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
