Flyers Forward Leads 2024-25 Rookie of the Year Race
Celebrini, Michkov Top 2024-25 NHL ROY Odds
Macklin Celebrini may ultimately transform the San Jose Sharks, but Vegas isn’t quite sure he’ll win the Rookie of the Year award.
- The top pick of the 2024 NHL Draft shares the second-shortest odds for the Calder Trophy behind Matvei Michkov of the Philadelphia Flyers. Celebrini is tied at +400 with Dallas Stars playoff hero Logan Stankoven, trailing Michkov at +350.
Despite his extremely loaded skill set, teams selected Michkov seventh overall in the 2023 NHL Draft due to concerns about his ability to leave his contract with SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. But the Flyers and Michkov agreed to a contract over the weekend, and Michkov will reportedly come across the Atlantic to play for Philadelphia in 2024-25.
Celebrini, considered a generational talent by many, will try to become the second straight first-overall selection to win the Calder after Chicago Blackhawks star center Connor Bedard won the award in a runaway this year.
Here’s a look at the 2024-25 NHL ROY odds.
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Expert Pick: Subscribe below to get our Premium Insights!2024-25 NHL ROY odds: Party of Six
People perceive six players as potential candidates, led by Michkov, Stankoven, and Celebrini.
- A pair of former Boston College teammates, Will Smith and Cutter Gauthier, follow those three at +500, and Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens sits at +700.
Gauthier forced his way off the Flyers by refusing to sign there and ended up on the Anaheim Ducks via a midseason trade. The Flyers chose Gauthier, who was born in Sweden, with the fifth pick in 2022. He expects to be a teammate of 2022 Calder Trophy finalist Trevor Zegras.
The Sharks chose Smith, who, like Gauthier, won the national championship at BC before going pro this season, with the fourth pick in the 2023 draft. Don’t be surprised if he ends up on Celebrini’s line, potentially as a right wing, at points during the 2024-25 season.
Smith and Celebrini are likely to be two of the Sharks’ best NHL players for years to come.
Hutson, a rival of Smith and Gauthier at Boston University, was a two-time All-American in college and is hoping to become the first defenseman to win the Calder since Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings in 2022. Hutson was a second-round selection by Montreal in 2022 yet seems destined as a fixture on the Canadiens’ blue line.
Jumbo announces the No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini pic.twitter.com/uvFXZM9ZLY
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 28, 2024
Not a Lock
Celebrini might seem like the NHL experts’ pick since his odds are so favorable, but some of the greatest players in the game — and the most highly drafted — did not end up winning the Calder Trophy, even though Bedard claimed it this year.
Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, and Connor McDavid didn’t win the Rookie of the Year award, since each fell to Ray Bourque, Alex Ovechkin, and Artemi Panarin in his lone chance. In McDavid’s case, a devastating collarbone injury cost him his chance at the Rookie of the Year in 2015-16.
Panarin, like Kirill Kaprizov who also won the Calder in 2021, was an older professional who had already been playing against men in the KHL when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015. That pedigree adds to the case for Michkov as a 2024-25 NHL ROY odds-on favorite.
Michkov will turn 20 midway through his rookie season, which means he’s several years younger than Panarin and Kaprizov when they ultimately jumped to the NHL. But like his fellow Russians, Michkov has also held his own while playing in what many consider the world’s second-best hockey league.
Plus, Stankoven has the edge on them both due to his extremely noticeable run with the Stars through the playoffs. Stankoven played 24 regular-season games for Dallas, and 19 more in the playoffs, yet is still eligible for Calder consideration due to his playing fewer than 25 regular-season games.
Stankoven, who plays an energetic game at 5-8, had nine goals over the regular season and postseason and played on Dallas’ top line. With the Stars among the NHL’s best bets to win the Stanley Cup, Stankoven’s Calder Trophy candidacy will get a lot of publicity.
Long shots in goal
Only three goalies have won the Calder over the past 30 years, and none since Steve Mason for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2009. But Dustin Wolf makes an intriguing candidate at +1500 since the Calgary Flames traded starter Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey.
Wolf expects to share the net with incumbent Dan Vladar but could get the opportunity to win the starting job in training camp. Vladar has not been able to claim the Calgary net full-time, showcased by his career 3.09 goals-against average (GAA) and .893 save percentage (SV%) in 75 NHL games.
- Yaroslav Askarov’s +4000 odds prove he is also considered a long shot. However, he also makes a fascinating option given the potential for the Nashville Predators to trade him. The Predators chose Askarov with the 11th pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, but he is stuck behind starter Juuse Saros, who just signed an eight-year contract extension.
If Askarov goes somewhere else — Seattle or Philadelphia make an especially compelling fit — and gets the starter’s net, he could easily move among the favorites in 2024-25 NHL ROY odds.
- Like Askarov, Jesper Wallstedt is a super-interesting candidate at +4000 given the uncertainty in the Minnesota Wild’s net. Marc-Andre Fleury is entering his final NHL season, and Filip Gustavsson has not played more than 45 games and had a regression in Minnesota’s net last season.
Minnesota projects Wallstedt as their goalie of the future, so they aren’t likely to trade him. But if Fleury and Gustavsson struggle again, they could put him into the net, and if he plays well, he could very well steal the award.
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