NHL Calder Trophy Odds: Dustin Wolf Is The Best Rookie This Year

The 2024-25 Calder Trophy odds haven't moved from favorite Matvei Michkov who holds -160 odds to be named the NHL's Rookie of the Year. 2024 First-overall pick Macklin Celebrini has consolidated his place at second on the odds board with +170 odds with 13 points in his last 10 games.

If you're looking for a dark horse how about Calgary's Dustin Wolf keeping the Flames close to a playoff spot at +4000? 

NHL Calder Trophy Odds For 2024-2025

Odds as of December 17th at BET99

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2024-25 Calder trophy Favorite: Matvei Michkov

The Russian fell to Philadelphia in the 2023 draft due to concerns over when he might play in North America. Flyers GM Danny Briere had no issues getting the budding star to this side of the Atlantic a year after drafting him seventh overall and boy is he happy other GM's skipped over the Russian.

Michkov has been electric, scoring 11 goals and 27 points through his first 29 games of the season. Sure, he's had a few healthy scratches along the way, but would you expect anything less from head coach John Tortorella? 

Matvei leads rookies for goals (11) and power play points (12) and holds a solid seven-point cushion at the top of the rookie scoring charts with 27. So long as he can stay on Torts' good side, he's a shoo-in to win the Calder.

2024-25 Calder Trophy Odds Value Pick: Dustin Wolf

Wolf has been excellent in his NHL debut with a 2.65 goals against average and 0.915 save percentage for a terrible Calgary side. That save percentage ranks ninth and his goals-against average ranks 18th, for all goalies who've played at least 10 games, not just rookies. 

Those numbers have kept Calgary, what many expected would be a bottom-dweller in the NHL, in and around a playoff position. I'm not exaggerating when I say Calgary's record is due to Wolf, the Flames are getting next to no offense with the 26th-ranked offense (in goals per game), and their points leader is Jonathan Huberdeau at 21, a pathetic pace of 56 points.

Remember that since the 2024 trade deadline, the Flames lost Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Andrew Mangiapane, Nikita Zadorov, Jacob Markstrom, and Oliver Kylilngton! That's an insane loss of talent and yet the Flames are better!

A goalie hasn't won the Calder Trophy since Steve Mason in 2009, but that has to change because Mason's 10 shutouts in 08-09 were magical. Only three other goalies have compiled 10 or more shutouts in a single season since Mason and their names are Lundqvist, Fleury, and Quick. Ten shoutouts for a rookie can not be the requirement for a goalie to win Rookie of the Year.

If Wolf's efforts and his efforts alone are keeping the Flames competitive, if Calgary gets anywhere near a playoff spot he needs to win the Calder because that makes him the best rookie in the NHL 

Last 10 Calder Trophy Winners

It’s always great to look back on a list like this and see just how many of these players turned into absolute superstars – there’s a noticeable lack of Connor McDavid thanks to him only playing 45 games in his rookie year due to injury.

The teams are always fresh too, with no squad winning a back-to-back Calder since the Boston Bruins in 1967 and 1968.

NHL Teams with the Most Calder Trophy winners

Auston Matthews’ 2017 win snapped quite the cold streak for the Leafs, going 51 years without a Calder win – their wins come from the early days of the NHL. You’ll notice the top six teams are the Original Six squads, owing to their high wins to being around the longest you could assume.

NHL Teams that have never had a player win the Calder Trophy

These are all relatively “newer” teams, with the Flyers and Stars being the oldest squads on this list after joining in the 60s. With Michkov (Philadelphia) and Stankoven (Dallas) at the top of the 2024-25 Calder Trophy odds board, maybe one of those two franchises finally gets their first Calder winner.

Calder Trophy Betting Trends

With a collection of potential superstars at the start of every season, you need all the stats you can get when trying to predict the next Calder winner. The results can be shocking with early picks winding up as busts or late selections making themselves the best players in their age category. Here are a few trends over the last few seasons that might indicate who'll take home the Calder: