Edmonton's Connor McDavid is expected to take lead on offence and score more goals with Zach Hyman out and a rookie left winger.
The NHL season will be here in no time as we look ahead to some regular season player props that we look to take advantage of just like we did last off-season. We were very successful at finding great values in these player props with some sportsbooks not fully looking into the background or history of some players besides the stats of the prior season.
We took advantage of the sportsbooks not knowing anything about Connor McDavid and that he's not a goal scorer and easily hit the under for his goal total last season, which was at a shocking 51.5 when he scored more than 44 goals just once in his nine prior NHL season. We also hit on nearly all of our other player prop picks like Mitch Marner, Mark Scheifele, Wyatt Johnston, Rasmus Dahlin, Teuvo Teravainen and Connor Hellebuyck to his over in wins plus take home the Vezina trophy.
It was a very successful season for us on that front and we hope to continue the good times heading into this next season. With our first pick being one that we feel very confident in, we look to take the opposite of what we took last summer and instead ride with Oilers captain Connor McDavid to score over 34.5 goals (-115 on BetMGM).
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Although we don’t think he will score 50 or more goals, McDavid should be in a role this season where he will be forced to produce a lot of the offense like he already does. The biggest change for him to start the season is he will be without his partner-in-crime and the finisher to all of McDavid’s passes in Zach Hyman. He will be sidelined with a wrist injury that required surgery in the off-season. We still don’t know when Hyman will return or who will fill at right wing spot for the start of the season but we do know his left winger will be a rookie in Isaac Howard.
The production out of the young 21-year-old Howard will likely be top end compared to the other rookies in the league but he will still be a rookie and could take some time to adjust to the NHL. Betters should expect McDavid to take on a bigger role because of these circumstances and could make his season long numbers look like they did during the 2022-23 season when he scored 64 goals.
Unless they slot Leon Draisaitl on the top line with him, McDavid will have no one to pass the puck to and will likely have to do the bulk of the work himself. It should lead to him shooting more than his normal passing tendencies.
In terms of this marker being doable, McDavid has scored 35 or more goals in just four of his 11 NHL seasons. However, the upcoming season could push him over the top, as it marks a contract year for the Richmond Hill native. Following Mitch Marner’s career-best performance during his own contract year, it’s reasonable to expect McDavid will be similarly driven to showcase his value. With several other stars like Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov also heading into contract negotiations, McDavid will likely aim to set himself apart, as he so often does.
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