Rocket Richard Trophy Odds – NHL Goal Leader in 2024

The 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds have been released. Connor McDavid is the clear favorite to win the ice hockey award this season. McDavid won his first Rocket Richard Trophy last season.

The top contenders to be the NHL goal leader in 2024 are Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak. Will these snipers be able to outscore McDavid in the 2023-24 NHL regular season?

What Is the Rocket Richard Trophy in Hockey?

The Rocket Richard Trophy or Maurice Richard Trophy is awarded to the leading goal scorer at the end of the NHL regular season. The annual hockey award was first presented in 1999.

Teemu Selanne (47 goals) was the first NHL player to win the Rocket Richard Trophy in 1999. The award has been won by Alex Ovechkin nine times. Only 16 players have won the award in 24 seasons.

2024 Rocket Richard Trophy Odds – Favorites

Here are the 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds leaders (priced below +1000):

Out of the four favorites, only Draisaitl hasn’t won the ice hockey award yet. Draisaitl has been close, as he has finished in the top five in NHL goals the last five seasons, including two runner-up finishes. He has three 50+ goal seasons, including the last two seasons and will contend again this season.

McDavid is coming off his best season for goal scoring. He led the NHL in goals last season (64) and he had his highest career shooting percentage (18.2%). Matthews scored 40 goals (T14) and had his worst career shooting percentage (12.2%) last season, but he’s expected to bounce back.

Pastrnak had a career-year last season and finished with 61 goals on a 15.0% shooting percentage. With the loss of Patrice Bergeron to retirement, Pastrnak might struggle to score as many goals this season.

2024 Rocket Richard Trophy Odds – Contenders

Here are the next eight players in the 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds (priced at +2500 or below):

Rantanen was healthy last season and played all 82 games for the first time in his career. He was third in scoring with 55 goals and had a career-best shooting percentage (18.0%). Thompson had 47 goals last season and there’s room for improvement, as his shooting percentage was at 15.9%.

Robertson (46 goals on 14.7 S%), Hughes (43 goals on 12.8 S%), MacKinnon (42 goals on 11.5 S%) and Ovechkin (42 goals on 14.3 S%) were all in the top ten on the NHL goal leaders list last season.

Hughes (21 years old) and Robertson (23 years old) will be among the top contenders to be the NHL goal leader for years to come. Robertson had a shooting percentage of 18.6 during the 2021-22 season and if he achieves that again, he’ll have a chance to join the list of NHL snipers with 60+ goals in a season.

The 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds for Ovi will shorten if he jumps out to a fast start. The Hart Trophy and the Rocket Richard Trophy can be closely related. Check out our 2024 Hart Trophy winner breakdown.

2024 Rocket Richard Trophy Odds – Longshots

Here are the next 15 players in the 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds (priced at +7500 or below):

Unlike the Vezina Trophy, longshots have rarely ever won the Rocket Richard Trophy.

You could make a case for Point to be the NHL goal leader in 2024. Point was 5th in scoring last season with 51 goals, but his shooting percentage was 21.7% and there’s a good chance that regresses.

Meier scored 40 goals (T14) last season with a shooting percentage of just 12.2%. If he can improve his S% in his first full season with the Devils, he could potentially upset the Rocket Richard Trophy odds.

2024 Rocket Richard Trophy Odds Updates

We’ll update the 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds throughout the 2023-24 NHL regular season. There have been some small line movements during the offseason already.

(August 8th 2023): McDavid (+220) has seen his 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds shorten. Draisaitl (+700) has moved ahead of Pastrnak (+800) in the odds to lead the NHL in scoring in 2024.

(July 1st 2023): McDavid (+300) leads the 2024 Rocket Richard Trophy odds, with Matthews (+650), Pastrnak (+750) and Draisaitl (+850) all priced below +1000 odds.

(October 23rd 2023): Auston Matthews (+185) is on top of the Rocket Richard trophy odd, favored to win, after scoring six goals in five games. Connor McDavid (+450) has seen his odds drop after scoring just two goals in five games. McDavid is also injured and will miss some action. Jack Hughes (+1200) is shortening after scoring four goals in four games. Alex Debrincat (+1600) has seen big line movement in the Rocket Richard Trophy odds and he currently leads the NHL in goals (8). Tage Thompson (+2000) has seen his odds drop after opening the season with one goal in five games. Chris Kreider (+2500) has seen the biggest line movement to start the season. Kreider has scored four goals in five games.

(December 19th 2023): Auston Matthews (+115) has seen his Rocket Richard Trophy odds shorten since our last update. Matthews is tied for the league-lead in goals (23) with Brock Boeser (+900). Boeser has shot up the Rocket Richard Trophy odds list. David Pastrnak (+400) is tied for seventh in goals (17), Nikita Kucherov (+650) is third in goals (20) and Connor McDavid (+750) is tied for 53rd in goals (11). I wouldn’t be betting on McDavid to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. Sidney Crosby (+4000) is tied for fourth in goals (18) and offers lots of value. The race is likely going to come down to Matthews and Kucherov.

Auston Matthews Is Leading Rocket Richard Trophy Odds

(February 7th 2024): Auston Matthews (-275) is now a huge odds-on favorite to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. Matthews hasn’t slowed down since our last Rocket Richard Trophy odds update. Matthews had 11 goals in 13 games in January. He leads the NHL in goals (40), but there are still players that could catch him. I wouldn’t be betting Matthews at his current price. Sam Reinhart (+700) has 37 goals (2nd). He had 14 goals in 13 games in January, so he’s gaining ground on Matthews. David Pastrnak (+750) is third in the league in goals (33). Nikita Kucherov (+2500) and Nathan MacKinnon (+2500) round out the top five. Kucherov and MacKinnon both have 32 goals, so catching Matthews will be tough although all it takes is a streak of games with Matthews not scoring to change the outlook for this NHL awards betting market.

NHL Rocket Richard Trophy Winners

Here are the last ten Rocket Richard Trophy winners:

*Rocket Richard Trophy odds listed are from the NHL offseason that year.

In the last ten NHL seasons, only McDavid (2023) and Crosby (2017) had Rocket Richard Trophy odds of above +1000 prior to the start of the regular season. Targeting favorites is the way to go when betting on the Rocket Richard Trophy winner and back-to-back winners are also common with this NHL award.

NHL Rocket Richard Trophy Betting Trends

Here are some Rocket Richard Trophy betting trends to help guide you towards a winner:

1. Goals Galore: The winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy has scored 40+ goals every single year except for the shortened 2012-13 NHL season due to lockout (Ovechkin won with 32 goals). Four winners have had 60+ goals, including the last two seasons.
2. Avoid Rookies and Defensemen: A rookie or defenseman has never won the award. The youngest Rocket Richard Trophy winners are Rick Nash (2004) and Steven Stamkos (2010) at 19 years old, but both NHL superstars were in their second seasons in the league. Connor Bedard (+10000) could break the betting trend, but I wouldn’t put any money on that happening.
3. Back-to-Back: Three players have won back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophy awards. Pavel Bure (2000/2001), Ovechkin (2008/2009, 2013/2014/2015/2016 and 2018/2019/2022) and Matthews (2021/2022) have achieved the feat. Ovechkin is the only player to three-peat or four-peat.
4. Eastern Conference Dominance: Since 2007, the Rocket Richard Trophy has been won by a player in the Eastern Conference in 15 of 17 seasons. The two Western Conference players to win the award were McDavid with the Oilers (2023) and Corey Perry with the Ducks (2011).

Ovechkin has won nine of 24 Rocket Richard Trophies (37.5%) since the award started in 1999.

NHL Rocket Richard Trophy FAQ