2024-25 Norris Trophy Odds: Can Werenski Upset Makar?

The 2025 Norris Trophy Odds have Cale Makar as the clear favorite to win the NHL's top defensemen award this year. But, the award isn't entirely wrapped up as Zach Werenski (+240) and Quinn Hughes (+750) are still in the race.

Is this Makar's Norris to win? Or could someone else surprise in the odds?

2024-25 Norris Trophy Odds

Odds as of March 7th at BET99

2024-25 Norris Trophy Pick: Cale Makar

Makar is the league's top-scoring defenseman leading his position with 74 points in his first 63 games — eight more than any other D-man. The fact that Makar continued to rack up points despite Colorado suffering injuries and trading massive players off the roster is a testament to his quality.

Other guys have pushed Makar for the Norris in recent years, but it's obvious he's the best defender in hockey right now. Since entering the league in 19-20, no defenseman has more points than Makar. It's not just the scoring, though, as Makar also kills penalties. He has more penalty kill minutes than his two closest Norris challengers (Hughes and Werenski) combined. 

It would be a massive upset to see any other defensemen winning the Norris this year, and maybe every year for the next few seasons.

2024-25 Norris Trophy Value Pick: Zach Werenski

Zach Werenski is putting on an absolute clinic this year. 

The 27-year-old defender had posted over 40 points five times before, but his 2025 is on another level. Werenski has already broken 20 goals and is on pace for almost 90 points. While Makar's production comes alongside guys like Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews, Werenski is easily the best player on his team and logs nearly 27 minutes of icetime a night.

If you put Werenski and Makar's numbers head to head, it's hard to say Werenski's are better. But, when you consider the lesser talent the plays with, the heavy minutes he logs, and what he's done to lift the Blue Jackets into playoff contention, he's got a real Norris arguement.

previous 10 Norris Trophy Winners 

Veterans on the list like Josi, Burns and Giordano have started to make way for younger stars in Fox and Makar, but age is no barrier for a good defender – even the older blueliners have shown they’re not going down without a fight. In 22-23, 32-year-old Erik Karlsson won his third Norris Trophy after a monster 101-point season for the San Jose Sharks.

who has won the most Norris Trophies?

*Won Norris every year between 1969 and 1975

No one was as dominant as Bobby Orr. The Bruins' blue line won seven consecutive Norris Trophies from 1969 to 1975. Niklas Lidstrom was nearly as supreme with seven total top defensemen awards though not in consecutive order like Orr.

NHL Teams with the Most Norris Trophy winners  

The Bruins have always had a tough reputation, so it's only fitting for their rosters to include the most Norris Trophy winners in NHL history. Their victories were contributed by only three players, with Bobby Orr being the most famous victor for the Bruins.

Four other Original Six teams, all except Toronto, back them up with impressive wins of their own – it pays to have been around the league for a while.

NHL Teams that have never had a player win the Art Norris Trophy

For an award that's been around since 1954, it's surprising to see 13 teams remain winless in the Norris category. Vancouver was the latest team to come off the list after Quinn Hughes was named the league's top defenseman in 2024.

But the Norris Trophy is very repeatable, and we've been lucky enough to have some great minds cross the blue line in NHL history -- there's always next year.

Norris Trophy Betting Trends

Like the Vezina Trophy, it's a little easier to choose a Norris winner thanks to a smaller pool of potential winners. We've seen point-scoring defensemen steal the show for this award, so it's possible to get even more granular by looking for the D-Men contributing heavily to their team's offense. Here are a few other examples of Norris betting trends over the years: