NHL-ийн 2026-27 оны улирлын шагналын эздийг таамаглах сонирхолтой хувилбарууд

With the NHL’s 2026-27 season almost upon us, it’s time to make some award picks.

Easy, right? Connor McDavid for the Hart, Cale Makar for the Norris, Porter Martone for the Calder, and all the various other favorites. Maybe a Macklin Celebrini here or a Nikita Kucherov there if you want to be different.

So sure, easy. Too easy. For today at least, we’re skipping the favorites and aiming a little higher. It’s time for our annual attempt to nail some true long shots.

We’ve been trying this for years. Do we get any right? Eh, not necessarily. But we’ve had some impressive near-misses, including last year when Gentille was sniffing around the Celebrini offensive outburst before just about anyone. But when we’re wrong, we’re really wrong. That’s part of the point — to look back a year or more later and realize how random a lot of this can feel.

We’ll be using the odds posted by Bet365 as of early this week. (Note that odds can change over time.) To be clear, the idea here isn’t to encourage you to be on anything — we already have every intermission report on every TV broadcast to handle that. But the oddsmakers are a good measure of where expectations have been set, in a mostly objective way.

For our purposes, we’re looking for odds of at least +2000, which is to say long shots of 20-to-1 or more, with the “we” being Sean Gentille, Sean McIndoe and Dom Luszczyszyn. If we hit one, you’ll never hear the end of it. If we whiff on everything, at least we’ll know we took the bat off our shoulder.

Let’s find some plausible long shots.

Norris Trophy (best defenseman)

Luszczyszyn: Adam Fox (+3300)

The tide has turned substantially on Fox in hockey circles over the last two years, but I’m still of the belief he’s one of the league’s most impactful defensemen. Last year on a per-game basis, he was still top-five in Net Rating and did that while finally proving he can handle matchup minutes. He’s being priced as if he isn’t a top-10 defenseman in the league and I simply can’t abide by that.

Gentille: Jake Sanderson (+3300)

It felt like the expectations surrounding Sanderson got a bit out of whack, but he came close to meeting them regardless. He had a top-10 Net Rating season at the position despite missing a chunk of games, and of that elite group, he might offer the most balance between offense and defense. If he has a similar season — tons of production, tons of two-way value — he’ll have a puncher’s chance for a finalist spot at minimum.

McIndoe: Thomas Harley (+20000)

Yes, that’s a 200-to-1 long shot. And yes, it’s my second year in a row picking Harley, who was at 300-to-1 last year despite finishing seventh in 2025. He didn’t get any votes in 2026, but he was rumored to be the key piece going to Columbus in the vetoed Zach Werenski deal. If you’re good enough to be traded for a Norris winner, surely you’re good enough to at least be in the running yourself, right?

Calder Trophy (best rookie)

Luszczyszyn: James Hagens (+2800)

If Hagens can get any time with David Pastrňák or even a spot on the top power play, look out. Hagens only played five combined regular-season and playoff games for the Bruins last year, but in those games he was on the right side of the puck more often than most of the team. That’s a good sign for his NHL readiness, and his college scoring jump last season suggests there’s decent upside here.

Gentille: Jacob Fowler (+2800)

I’m not in love with any of the long-shot options here, and Dom already took Hagens off the board, so sure, give me Fowler, whatever. He’s one of the most highly regarded goaltending prospects in the league, and he’s only a Jakub Dobeš injury away from getting a whole bunch of starts for a playoff-caliber team with a gigantic voting base.

McIndoe: Tij Iginla (+4000)

He’s far from a lock to even make the Mammoth out of camp, let alone play and produce all year long. But if he did, would voters be able to resist circling a familiar name on their ballot?

Vezina Trophy (best goalie)

Luszczyszyn: Lukáš Dostál (+3000)

The Anaheim Ducks’ defense is a mess, so if the Ducks are going to make the playoffs, it’s going to be on the back of elite goaltending. Dostál had an off season in 2025-26 with only average GSAx numbers, but was amazing in 2024-25. If he can get back to that level, he’ll be in the mix.

Gentille: Stuart Skinner (+10000)

Now and then, it’s fun to buy a lottery ticket. Hear me out: If/when Connor Hellebuyck gets his wish, Skinner is going to take over Winnipeg’s net full time; he’s got a couple really nice regular seasons on his resume; we know the Jets, at their best, play a goalie-friendly system; and, most relevantly, the storyline would be irresistible. These are still narrative-based awards. Never forget that.

McIndoe: Jake Oettinger (+2500)

He’s a good goalie on a good team that should win plenty of games, which still seems to be the main stat the general managers who vote on the Vezina want to see. He’s never been a finalist, but he’s finished in the top 10 three times in four years, including last season, so this feels like a surprisingly decent value.

Jack Adams Award (coach of the year)

Luszczyszyn: André Tourigny (+2500)

The Utah Mammoth made the playoffs last year, but didn’t quite take the cosmic leap toward contention some expected. I can see the case for that happening this year and Tourigny getting some love for it.

Gentille: Jeff Blashill (+7500)

If Connor Bedard regains the upward trajectory he was on before his injury, if a bunch of Chicago’s young players take major steps, if Bowen Byram turns out to be a passable first-pair defenseman and if Spencer Knight has a second straight 55-start, above-average season, Chicago is going to win more games, and Blashill will deserve a bunch of credit. That’s a lot of “ifs.” I’m not wild about any of our choices here.

McIndoe: Travis Green (+4000)

The Jack Adams is typically the “new-ish coach of a team we didn’t think would be good who ended up making the playoffs” award. Last year, there were almost too many of those guys, with names such as Lindy Ruff, Dan Muse, Joel Quenneville and Rick Tocchet splitting the vote enough that the Jon Cooper lifetime achievement award ticket came through instead. I could see Green taking something closer to the more traditional path in his third year in Ottawa, as a Sens team lots of us are writing off in the post-Brady Tkachuk era makes the playoffs after all, and maybe even flirts with 100 points.

Rocket Richard Trophy (most goals)

Luszczyszyn: Cutter Gauthier (+3500)

Dropping 41 goals as a 22-year-old is impressive, but it’s the way Gauthier got there that makes him a viable long shot. He led all players with 13 shots per 60 despite only getting 53 percent of the Ducks’ power-play time. If he can get a bigger opportunity there, 50 goals is possible.

Gentille: Matt Boldy (+3000)

Gauthier’s odds make him a layup choice, but in the name of variety, I’ll take Boldy. If he can do a little more work on the Minnesota Wild’s power play — he was barely top-50 in goals per 60 there with 2.3 — he’ll have a shot at 50.

McIndoe: David Pastrňák (+6500)

I think Sean and Dom are on the right track picking younger players whose peaks we haven’t seen yet. But 65-to-1 feels like too much to pass up on a guy with a 60-goal season on his resume, even if he looked more like a playmaker last year.

Art Ross Trophy (most points)

Luszczyszyn: Jack Hughes (+7000)

Out of all the picks here, this is the easiest while also being the juiciest. Outside the obvious five candidates, Jack Hughes feels like the next-best bet to win the scoring title. He’s at the right age for a seismic leap, and last year we got a proof-of-concept of his scoring ability post-Olympics. From that point on, Hughes was second to only McDavid in scoring thanks to the Devils regaining their identity as a rush-oriented team. If that’s how they start the year, I like Hughes at these odds.

Gentille: Hughes

I’ve tried not to duplicate Dom’s picks, but that gimmick stops here. Say what you will about Hughes as a three-dimensional player, but if he stays healthy, he’s going to score 100 points, and he’s the only player on that list who can say that. Start from there and work backward.

McIndoe: Jason Robertson (+2800)

Count me in on thinking the Hughes odds are too generous here. But somebody has to be the contrarian, so I’ll take a fun scenario where Robertson has the mother of all contract years.

Selke Trophy (best defensive forward)

Luszczyszyn: Jordan Staal (+2500)

It actually felt a little tricky to find a decent Selke choice above 20-to-1 given how much the award is built off reputation. I’ll go with Staal, a deep legacy pick who deserves some flowers in this area and is still cooking defensively against top competition to this day.

Gentille: Macklin Celebrini (+4000)

One sign of generational-player status: people start treating them as a great two-way player when they’re merely pretty good. It happened with Sidney Crosby, and now it’s happening with Celebrini. That’s half the battle.

McIndoe: Brandon Hagel (+6000)

Let the record show that Dom stole my pick. But I don’t mind rolling the dice on Hagel, who got a handful of votes last year and feels like a classic case of a guy who’s very good but not quite good enough to get Hart love. Sometimes the voters decide those guys deserve a consolation prize. I just have to hope they don’t notice he’s a winger, since they’re apparently ineligible for this award.

Hart Trophy (MVP)

Luszczyszyn: Zach Werenski (+6000)

It’s high time for a defenseman to win the MVP, and Werenski feels like the best candidate for it. He’s the obvious leader of an otherwise mid team, so he won’t get usurped like Makar or Quinn Hughes might. And he’s starting to put up the real-world value that can get him there. If the Columbus Blue Jackets make the playoffs, Werenski would have a strong case.

Gentille: Jack Eichel (+4000)

He’s long been a marquee name and, as he’s aged, has both shaken the injury bug and added substance to his game. Also, even with Mitch Marner in the mix, Eichel is still the alpha dog in the Vegas Golden Knights’ forward group. If he can pad those scoring totals — shooting better than two percent on the power play is an obvious starting point — he’ll show up on some ballots.

McIndoe: Cale Makar (+2500)

I’ll end on what’s probably my wimpiest pick. Defensemen almost never win the Hart — a blueliner hasn’t even been a finalist since Chris Pronger won in 2000, which is ridiculous. But they’re also almost never the highest-paid player in the league either, and here we are. If “defensemen never win MVP” becomes this year’s “Cooper never wins the Jack Adams” narrative, I’ll take Makar to be the beneficiary.