2022-2023 NHL Hart Trophy: Consider This Sleeper Not Named Connor McDavid

2022-2023 Hart Trophy Sleeper Pick

We are right in the middle of the 2022-2023 NHL season, and with the All-Star break coming up before we know it, there will be plenty of people looking to enter the futures market at the halfway point. There is almost always value on the board, it's just about finding where that value lies and getting the best number possible on a team or player that can improve on that number.

Today, we have a value play on the Hart Trophy should Connor McDavid get injured, miss time or slow down his production.

As always, BetQL is going to bring you odds and value for all major sports all throughout the year, so keep an eye out for our value articles for some great prices on future bets!

David Pastrnak +1500 At DraftKings

It is really tough nowadays not to bet on Connor McDavid to win the Hart Trophy, as he is hockey's best player by a good margin, and he is currently the massive -275 favorite to take home the hardware yet again. There is good reason for that, and if he stays healthy, he is pretty much guaranteed to win it. That's why this would be a small play, as any play with 15/1 odds would be. When looking for value in the Hart Trophy race, I like to look at someone who is going to be on TV a lot and plays on a team that is getting attention. One team that immediately fits that bill is the Boston Bruins, who not only have the NHL's best record this season by 10 points in the standings but also have one of the best players in the league helping them race toward the President's Trophy.

David Pastrnak, better known by hockey fans as "Pasta", is very deserving of the Hart Trophy by the numbers. He currently has 62 points, which comprise of 35 goals and 27 assists, and leads the team in all three categories. Pastrnak has a +/- of 24, which is a top-10 number in the NHL. In other words, he is the best player on the best team in hockey. If McDavid didn't exist, Pastrnak would be the favorite to win this award in my opinion, as he is virtually tied with Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov at most sportsbooks for second place.

At +1500, I think this is good value for a player that will get national attention a lot of nights and will be on TV screens more than most others. He checks all the boxes for a guy who can win the award: attention, being on a good team and being a high goal scorer. If McDavid suffers an unfortunate injury and has to be out for a while, that will immediately put Pastrnak in the driver's seat, as Kucherov has most of his points via assists, which just aren't as sexy for the voters as a goal scorer. No matter how much they want to say that doesn't matter.

Bet this now at DraftKings!