Last season, Taylor Hall became the first New Jersey Devils player to ever win the Hart Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s MVP. Now, the odds are out on his chance at repeating.
According to Bovada, New Jersey Devils superstar Taylor Hall has 15/1 odds to repeat as the Hart Trophy winner, awarded to the NHL’s most valuable player.
If Hall manages to win the Hart Trophy in consecutive seasons, he will become the first player to do so since Alexander Ovechkin did in 2008 and 2009.
The 15/1 odds have Hall tied for the sixth-best odds along with Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning), Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), and Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets).
Ahead of Hall is John Tavares (Toronto Maple Leafs, 10/1 odds), Ovechkin (Washington Capitals, 10/1 odds), Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs, 10/1 odds), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins, 13/2 odds), and the favorite, Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers, 10/3 odds).
In his second season with the Devils, Hall carried the team to their first postseason appearance since 2012 when they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Los Angeles Kings.
En route to bringing the Devils back into the playoff picture, Hall shattered career-highs, finishing the regular season with 39 goals and 93 points in 76 games.
His 93 points were good for sixth in the league and put him 41 points ahead of the teammate closest to him, rookie Nico Hischier. The 26-year-old also scored 15 more goals than any other Devil (Kyle Palmieri had 24).
In the playoffs, the Devils managed just one win against the heavily-favored Tampa Bay Lightning, losing the series four games to one. In his first-ever NHL postseason appearance, Hall scored two goals and six points despite the early first-round exit.
