Oddsmakers give Canucks’ Quinn Hughes fourth-best odds of winning the Norris Trophy

While the oddsmakers didn’t give the Canucks much love when it came to their playoff aspirations, they’re a bit more keen on Quinn Hughes’s ability to take home the Norris Trophy — awarded to the NHL’s best defenceman — in 2023-24

Over at Betway, Hughes sits behind Cale Makar, Adam Fox, and Miro Heiskanen on the Norris line. Makar is the favourite to win the award with +175 odds; Fox has +600 odds; Heiskanen +850; and Hughes with +900. This means that while Makar is the favourite by a considerable margin, the gap between Fox, Heiskanen, and Hughes isn’t that big.

Some other defencemen worth noting are Rasmus Dahlin (+1000), Roman Josi (+1100), Dougie Hamilton (+1400), and this past year’s winner, Erik Karlsson, also at +1400.

Hughes received some love from voters this past season, his fourth full season in the NHL. The 23-year-old blueliner set career highs in numerous statistical categories including assists and points, while maintaining a strong level of defensive play all season long. He finished his season with 76 points in 78 games — two shy of a point-per-game pace. This was good for second place in the league in points, but Hughes still didn’t manage to earn a top three nomination.

Instead, Hughes finished 8th in Norris Trophy voting, picking up fewer votes than Makar, Fox, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Morrissey, Dougie Hamilton, Rasmus Dahlin, and of course, Erik Karlsson, who cleaned up the vote en route to winning the award. Here is the full breakdown from the 2022-23 Norris Trophy vote:

Hughes picked up 101 points among voters in the form of 1 first-place vote, 2 second-place votes, 10 third-place votes, 5 fourth-place votes, and 12 fifth-place votes.

There was certainly a case to be made for Hughes to be a top three finalist for this year’s award, but as is the case with many awards, they’re largely based on reputation. If Hughes can repeat or improve on his performance from this past season in 2023-24, his reputation as one of the game’s elite defenders will begin to grow, and the number of votes year over year should do the same.

Where do you think Quinn Hughes will finish in the Norris Trophy race in 2023-24? Let us know in the comments section below!