Morning Coffee: McDavid’s career night forces adjustments in FanDuel futures markets

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the Morning Coffee readers.

You know, building a successful romance is a lot like consistently building winning parlays at FanDuel.

It requires patience and dedication. Bankroll management is essential. You also need to play responsibly.

And just because I bet against Travis Kelce proposing to Taylor Swift at Super Bowl 58 doesn’t mean I’m not a romantic at heart.

I believe in true love. I also understand the “Passion That Unites Us All.”

I understood the reaction when I wrote about the odds that the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup this season in Tuesday’s Morning Coffee column.

Officially, FanDuel has Toronto at 14-to-1 to win it all. That’s up from 10-to-1 earlier this season.

Apparently, the FanDuel traders might want to consider lengthening their odds to win it all just a little more at this point.

At least, that would be a suggestion based on the responses I received to Tuesday’s column.

According to my readers, the Maple Leafs should be at least 20-to-1 or longer to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel.

Huge shout out to Daniel from Woodbridge, Ont., for that suggestion.

Meanwhile, many of the responses indicated that Toronto shouldn’t even be considered in the conversation as a contender.

You know, because they have “zero chance.”

Leave it to the media to turn a spark into a wildfire when it comes to the Maple Leafs, am I right?

Regardless of the sentiment, Toronto is still technically a top 10 choice to win it all at FanDuel.

As far as I’m concerned, they are right where they should be in the Stanley Cup futures market.

Whether their odds get shorter or longer from here will be based on how the organization decides to proceed ahead of the NHL trade deadline.

Regardless, the Leafs are on track to make the playoffs.

And when they do get in, we will get to see my favourite NHL playoff market on the FanDuel app again.

Will the Maple Leafs advance past the first round?

Now that’s a market I can promise you I’ll bet on.

This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday Feb. 14, 2024.

McDavid’s career night forces adjustments in FanDuel futures markets

Connor McDavid has been a perennial favourite to win the Hart Trophy entering each of the past three seasons.

As it stands, he’s now third in that market at FanDuel.

Nathan MacKinnon is the Hart Trophy favourite at -125. Nikita Kucherov is the second choice at +260.

McDavid is down to +340 from +390 following another remarkable performance in last night’s 8-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

McDavid became the fourth fastest player in NHL history to reach the 600-assist milestone with a career-best six-assist performance in the win over Detroit.

Prior to last night’s game, McDavid had never recorded more than four assists in a single game.

The fact that he managed to register four assists in one period alone is a testament to his ability to absolutely take over an NHL game.

With Kucherov scoring in last night’s win over the Boston Bruins, McDavid is still 13 points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning superstar winger for the NHL points lead.

However, he just gained five points on him in one night.

Suddenly, McDavid to win the Art Ross Trophy is once again a little more interesting.

Kucherov has averaged an NHL-best 1.70 points per game. McDavid is right behind him with 1.64 points per game, followed by Nathan MacKinnon at 1.61 points per game.

Kucherov remains the favourite to win the Art Ross Trophy at -130.

McDavid, who is 13 points back, is +230 to win that award.

MacKinnon is currently +260 to win the Art Ross Trophy.

Could McDavid catch the NHL points leader Kucherov?

The fact that the Oilers captain has shorter odds to win the Art Ross Trophy than MacKinnon, despite having 10 fewer points, is a testament to McDavid’s brilliance and the perception that he has the potential to outshine his competition at the highest level.

McDavid is the best hockey player on the planet. His performance against the Red Wings was another reminder of how dominant he can be.

McDavid, MacKinnon and Kucherov are the obvious top three choices to win the Hart Trophy at FanDuel.

That trio also represents the top three choices to win the Art Ross Trophy.

Hockey fans are lucky to be able to watch them perform at such a high level every single night.

It will be fascinating to see what McDavid, MacKinnon, and Kucherov do the rest of the way, and which one of them ultimately wins both the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy this season.