The 2026-27 NHL season begins one week from today on Tuesday, September 29, which means it’s about that time to talk NHL futures bets on DraftKings Sportsbook. This article will cover the Norris Trophy –– below, I’ll break down the odds on DraftKings Sportsbook and provide two of my favorite picks that I am backing.
Norris Trophy Odds
Cale Makar, the highest-paid player in the NHL, is the front-runner for the award at +300, with Quinn Hughes (+400), Zach Werenski, last season’s Norris Trophy winner (+550), rounding out the top three. Other appealing options, such as Rasmus Dahlin (+700), Moritz Seider (+1000) and Lane Hutson (+1000), round out the top five.
Best Norris Trophy Bets
Cale Makar (+300)
For what it’s worth, the Norris Trophy is kind of a joke at this point. The award now goes to the defenseman who totaled the most regular-season points, rather than the actual best defender, which brings me to Makar. Nicknamed “The Kid”, although he is now nearly 28 years old, Makar finished second in voting for the Norris last season, totaling 20 goals and 59 assists across 75 appearances. His 79-point season was a down-year by his standards, having totaled 90+ points in each of his previous two seasons, and I’d expect the Avalanche to be a regular-season powerhouse yet again.
Makar is now making over $20 million annually, and Colorado has far less forward depth than it did one season ago, trading away depth pieces such as Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton and Jack Drury. This should result in more of a dependency on Makar to create even more plays offensively, and I’d expect a career-best year for the defenseman in 2026. He finished third in points among defensemen in 2025, and while he isn’t a physical player by any means, he still provides enough defensive prowess that he’ll almost always be considered for the award. Aside from this rookie season in 2019, Makar has finished top-three in Norris voting every season since.
Adam Fox (+3000)
It’s hard to believe that just one of two players in NHL history to win the Norris Trophy in his second season is +3000 and ranked below guys that aren’t really even on his level (I’m talking to you, Evan Bouchard). Fox had an injury-riddled 2025 campaign, appearing in just 55 games; however, the 28-year-old still totaled nine goals and 44 assists, which is nearly a point-per-game. In 2025, he ranked fifth among defensemen with at least 400 minutes of total ice time in points per 60 and fourth in assists per 60.
Fox has slowed down a bit in his past two seasons, but he has still finished top-five in voting in four of seven seasons thus far. The Rangers uncharacteristically finished dead-last in the Eastern Conference last season, the first time they’ve done so since the 2017-18 season. While their offseason moves weren’t super inspiring, their new additions, Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand, offer a nice change of scenery in the forward groupings. Not that New York is going to completely flip the switch and be a top team in 2026, but I’d expect a bounce-back season for both the team and Fox. He’s consistently been a top-10, maybe even a top-five defenseman in the NHL since coming into the league. Barring another injury-riddled campaign, he will be back in the Norris mix and likely finish top-five in points. Plus, it helps that Fox is actually good at defense, too, unlike other defensemen who total tons of points but aren’t very good defensively.
