No 2026-27 Calder Trophy odds were posted in ESPN’s NHL futures feed on October 25, 2026, so this page names no price yet. The award for 2025-26 went to Matthew Schaefer, the New York Islanders defenseman, who scored 23 goals and 59 points in all 82 games.
The one NHL award market ESPN carries for the new season is the Hart Trophy, with 78 players priced at DraftKings. Schaefer is one of them, at +15000, a 0.7% implied chance of being named MVP in his second season. Through the Islanders’ first 10 games he has 1 goal and 8 assists, playing 26:13 a night.
What is the Calder Trophy
The Calder Memorial Trophy goes to the NHL’s rookie of the year. It is a regular-season award, so the playoffs play no part in it.
Schaefer’s win is a lesson in how the vote works. The other two finalists both had more points than he did, Ivan Demidov with 62 and Beckett Sennecke with 60, and neither won. Schaefer played 24:41 a night, against 15:30 for Demidov and 17:27 for Sennecke. That is within ten seconds of Cale Makar’s 24:51 for Colorado.
The 2025-26 finalists
These are the three Calder finalists for 2025-26, as the NHL lists them, with their regular seasons.
| Player | Team | Finish | GP | G | A | PTS | Time on ice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Schaefer | New York Islanders | Winner | 82 | 23 | 36 | 59 | 24:41 |
| Ivan Demidov | Montreal Canadiens | Runner-up | 82 | 19 | 43 | 62 | 15:30 |
| Beckett Sennecke | Anaheim Ducks | Finalist | 82 | 23 | 37 | 60 | 17:27 |
Montreal made the playoffs at 48-24-10. The Islanders finished 43-34-5 on 91 points and missed them, so Schaefer won the Calder on a team that missed the playoffs.
Recent Calder Trophy winners
| Season | Winner | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | Matthew Schaefer | New York Islanders | D |
| 2024-25 | Lane Hutson | Montreal Canadiens | D |
| 2023-24 | Connor Bedard | Chicago Blackhawks | C |
| 2022-23 | Matty Beniers | Seattle Kraken | C |
| 2021-22 | Moritz Seider | Detroit Red Wings | D |
| 2020-21 | Kirill Kaprizov | Minnesota Wild | LW |
| 2019-20 | Cale Makar | Colorado Avalanche | D |
| 2018-19 | Elias Pettersson | Vancouver Canucks | C |
| 2017-18 | Mathew Barzal | New York Islanders | C |
| 2016-17 | Auston Matthews | Toronto Maple Leafs | C |
| 2015-16 | Artemi Panarin | Chicago Blackhawks | LW |
Defensemen have won four of the last seven, including the last two. Before Makar in 2019-20, the previous four winners were all forwards, and no goaltender appears in the eleven seasons listed.
Eight of these eleven winners have a price on this season’s Hart Trophy board. Kaprizov is the shortest of them at +950, then Matthews at +3000 and Makar at +7500; Pettersson, Seider and Beniers are the three with no price.
How to read Calder odds once they post
A price converts to a break-even chance. For plus money, divide 100 by the price plus 100: a rookie at +400 needs to win 20.0% of the time. For minus money, divide the price by the price plus 100, so a favorite at -150 needs 60.0%.
A Calder bet is worth making only when you rate a player’s chance higher than the price does. No Calder price has been posted yet, so there is nothing to compare against today. The Islanders opened their season at Toronto on September 30 and have played 10 games.
More NHL awards and picks
The MVP race is on the Hart Trophy odds page and the defensemen on the Norris Trophy odds page. Team futures are on the Stanley Cup odds page and the NHL conference odds page.
Game-by-game calls, with the night’s lines, are on the NHL predictions hub. For paid NHL picks through the season, see the membership plans.
Odds: ESPN NHL futures, DraftKings, read October 25, 2026, 15:09 UTC. Winners and finalists: NHL records. Statistics and standings: NHL stats API, read the same day.