Elliotte Friedman makes bold choice while naming his favorite to win Hart Trophy this season

With the 2024/25 NHL season now underway, fans are already placing their early bets on which superstar will win the Hart Trophy this year.

While Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon won the coveted trophy last season, fans will be hoping for a new face to emerge and stake their claim as the NHL's very best.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman recently chimed in on the debate and had an interesting take as part of his Written 32 for Sportsnet.

"Hart: I could be boring and pick Connor McDavid — no one will be surprised if he wins again... Chris Pronger is the only defenceman to claim this trophy in the past 52 years, and Quinn Hughes is going to make a run at joining him. He’s a great talent with a desire to be even better, a captain in one of the league’s most intense markets."

Despite registering 92 points, 75 of which were assists, Hughes failed to make the cut as one of the finalists for the award last season. He did, however, manage to get his hands on the Norris Trophy. Hughes became the first Canucks defenceman to ever win the award.

To date, Henrik Sedin remains the only Canucks player to ever win the Hart Trophy, back in 2010.

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Quinn Hughes among early contenders to win Hart Trophy, but odds heavily in McDavid's favor

The Vancouver Canucks haven't gotten off to the best of starts this season, losing 6-5 to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. Quinn Hughes, while addressing the media reflected on his side's shock defeat against its Canadian rivals.

"We got loose in the second and stopped making it hard on them... I’m not sure how many leads like that we blew last year and that’s not a characteristic of ours. But in saying that, we have work to do to clean that up and I’m looking forward to doing it."

The Canucks will hope their captain can gradually regain the form that led the team to its first playoff appearance last time around since the COVID-affected 2020 season.

As per odds gathered from FanDuel Sportsbook, Hughes is at +4000 odds to win the NHL MVP award. Interestingly, his brother Jack, is more heavily favored to win the Hart Trophy with odds of +1100. Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, however, is the clear favorite for the award with current odds of +150.