The 2025-26 NHL MVP odds have been released and it’s no surprise to see Connor McDavid leading to pack to become MVP this season at +275 NHL betting odds.
With that being said there’s plenty of competition in the running to become MVP this season and as strong as Connor McDavid is we can find much better value elsewhere in the NHL MVP betting markets.
NHL 2026 MVP Odds
- Connor McDavid +275
- Nathan Mckinnon +400
- Nikita Kucherov +600
- Leon Drasitil +900
- Karil Kaprizov +1200
- Auston Matthews +1900
- Connor Hellybuyck +1900
- Cale Maker +2800
- Jack Eichel +3100
- David Pastrnak +3100
*All odds from Bet365 (check our Bet365 Review)
MVP Preview and Trends
Connor McDavid has won the MVP award three times throughout his NHL career, with those wins coming in 2017, 2021, and 2023. McDavid has been the favorite to win the award in each of the previous five seasons. No player has won back-to-back MVP awards since Alexander Ovechkin in 2008 and 2009.
Last season, we had goaltender Connor Hellebuyck pick up the MVP award, which made him the first goaltender to do so in a decade. There has only ever been three goaltender MVP’s awarded. Hellebuyck was +1900 last season to become MVP, his current odds ahead of this season are +5000 at top-rated sportsbooks.
No defenceman has won the award since the year 1999, and five of the last six winners were centre’s with 9 of the previous 10 winners being a forward.
Since the year 2000, there has only been two players 30+ years of age to win the MVP award, Connor Hellebuyck (last season and Joe Sakic in the year 2001.
MVP Prediction and Best Bets
Connor McDavid +275
McDavid is hard to look past given his status as “the best hockey player in the world” but like we stated, he has been the favorite to win each of the previous five MVP awards and yet has only come away as winner on one of those five occasions.
McDavid played his heart out in the previous two seasons to help guide his team to the Stanley Cup finals but ended up as bridesmaids on both occasions.
McDavid missed 15 games last season which ultimately blew his chances of picking up his 4th MVP award. McDavid was the regular season top points scorer during all three of his MVP winning seasons so one would expect a fully fit McDavid to be in the running this year should he stay injury free.
It’s hard to ignore McDavid’s chances but value wise we believe there to be better value elsewhere.
Nathan Mackinnon +400
He could be the better bet this season as the Colorado Avalanche should have a stronger campaign this time around and Gabriel Landeskog is back in the fold which could make McKinnon’s life that bit easier when it comes to racking up the points throughout the season.
Mackinnon has only ever won the MVP award on one occasion in 2017-18 but he has been in the running on numerous occasions, and last year only finished 5 points behind top scorer Nikita Kucherov with 116 regular season points (imagine how many he could have racked up with a healthy Gabriel Landeskog). Mackinnon has been inside the top 6 points scorers in the NHL in each of his previous 8 seasons.
The avalanche also had a poor start to last season’s camping, although it didn’t hinder MacKinnon’s scoring. One would expect him to score more when their firing on all cylinders.
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Sleepers Worth Betting
Nick Suzuki +5000
Suzuki could be a surprise pick ahead of this season. Suzuki has been the Montreal Canadiens’ MVP in each of the previous four seasons and finished 9th in the MVP voting last season.
Suzuki has increased his scoring year on year with 61, 66, 77 and 89 points in each of the past four seasons. The Canadiens are on the rise and we expect Suzuki to have another strong camping in front of the crease.
Jack Eichel +3100
He looks to be a decent value bet considering the Golden Knights could be a strong contender this season, and the addition of Mitch Marner could be a big help to Jack Eichel’s scoring.
Eichel finished last season with the 7th most amount of points and he was the Golden Knights’ top points scorer. If you’re taking Eichel at +3100, it might also be worth considering his new teammate Mitch Marner at massive odds of +6100 to become NHL MVP in 2026.
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*The line and/or odds referenced in this article might have changed since the content was published. For the latest information on line movements, visit OddsTrader’s free betting odds tool.
