Oddsmakers Sleeping On Lindholm In Norris Trophy Odds

The oddsmakers appear to be sleeping on Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm in the latest odds on who will win the 2024 Norris Trophy.

Despite getting 12 first-place votes and finishing fourth in voting for the 2023 Norris Trophy, Lindholm is not even close to being a favorite to win the trophy this season. Somehow, the 29-year-old Boston Bruins defenseman is one of 14 NHL defensemen listed at 100-1 odds at BetOnline to win the 2024 Norris Trophy. Lindholm’s teammate, Bost0n Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, is listed at 16/1 after finishing 18th in voting with no first, second, third, or fourth place votes for the 2023 Norris Trophy.

The top three favorites for the 2024 Norris Trophy are 2022 Norris Trophy winner and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar at 5-2, 2021 winner and New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox at 7-1, and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin at 8-1.

In his first full season with the Boston Bruins after being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, Hampus Lindholm was an absolute beast and had his best NHL season yet, with ten goals and 43 assists in 80 games. Lindholm helped fill the void when McAvoy was out with four goals and nine assists in 13 games to start the season. Lindholm has 67 goals and 213 assists in 672 NHL games.

McAvoy missed the first 13 games of this past season after offseason surgery. However, the now 25-year-old, 6-foot-1, 209-pound defenseman returned to have the second-best season of his young career. McAvoy finished the regular season with seven goals and 45 assists in 67 games and then added five assists in the Bruins’ seven-game opening-round loss in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This came after a career-high 56 points (10g, 46a) in the 2021-22 regular season and a fifth-place finish in voting for the 2022 Norris Trophy. McAvoy finished with one fifth-place vote for the 2023 Norris Trophy, as those 13 games missed and some excellent seasons for plenty of other NHL defensemen hurt his chances to be in the Top 5 voting list again.

The last Boston Bruins defenseman to win the Norris Trophy was former team captain Zdeno Chara in 2009. Prior to that, it was another former Bruins captain, Ray Bourque, who won the trophy in 1994, 1991, 1990, 1988, and 1987. Former Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr holds the record with eight Norris Trophies, winning them all in eight consecutive seasons from the 1967-68 season until 1974-75.