With the NHL's holiday break approaching, it feels like a natural time to look at how three awards markets - the Hart, Norris, and Calder - stand as we head into the new year.

The markets we'll focus on all feature a common name: Hughes.

The trio of brothers - Jack, Quinn, and Luke - are all in the running to claim hardware at the end of the season. The odds are heavily stacked against them, but could the Hughes brothers pull off an unprecedented sweep?

Let's dive in.

Hart Trophy odds

Odds via theScore Bet

Nikita Kucherov and Connor McDavid are co-favorites in the Hart Trophy market, with David Pastrnak and Jack Hughes hot on their tails.

Kucherov tops the NHL in points and is three short of the league lead in goals. He carried a Lightning team that struggled - relative to expectations - early in the season as it awaited Andrei Vasilevskiy's return. Kucherov's a deserving candidate but far from a sure thing at this point in the season.

As long as McDavid is healthy and the Oilers are winning games, the league's best player will always be in the Hart conversation.

As for Jack Hughes, he led the NHL in points before an upper-body injury caused him to miss multiple games. While his 37 points don't place him in the top 10 overall, he sits third in points per game behind Kucherov and McDavid.

For Jack to have any shot at winning this award, he needs to stay healthy for the rest of the season and the Devils, currently sitting outside a wild-card spot, have to make the playoffs. Jack's +600 odds suggest he has roughly a 14% chance of being honored as the league's MVP.

Norris Trophy odds

Quinn Hughes is the favorite to win top-defenseman honors. He leads all blueliners in goals (nine) and assists (30) while captaining the Canucks' hot start. Vancouver is battling with the Golden Knights for the Pacific Division lead.

Cale Makar entered the season as the +200 betting favorite to win his second Norris Trophy and is neck and neck with Hughes. Makar trails the Canucks defenseman by two points for the league lead.

The Norris appears to be a two-man race between Western Conference foes. However, Evan Bouchard has an outside chance to throw his name into the hat if he can continue to rack up points alongside McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the Oilers' power play.

Either way, the battle for the Norris between two of the league's best young stars will be one to watch for the remainder of the season.

Calder Trophy odds

The Calder will be the toughest for a Hughes family member to claim as Connor Bedard is a -350 favorite - a 77.8% implied probability - to win the NHL's top rookie award.

Bedard has 26 points in 30 games for the Blackhawks, who sit last in the NHL with 19 points. The 2023 first overall pick is doing all he can to carry Chicago, but the team lacks talent in all areas. Bedard simply cannot do it on his own.

Luke Hughes is Bedard's closest competitor on the oddsboard at +1100. The Devils defenseman has 16 points in 29 games while playing alongside his brother Jack. Luke was +700 to win the Calder before the season, but Bedard's sensational play caused his odds to lengthen.

If you were to parlay each Hughes brother to win the Hart, Norris, and Calder, the odds would be roughly +17000, or an implied probability of under 1%. Sweeping these three awards is very unlikely for the Hughes family, but the odds are still greater than zero!

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Dylan Larkin is concerned for his safety considering how the NHL has allowed dangerous plays to go largely unpunished recently.

The Detroit Red Wings captain spoke to the media Tuesday for the first time since an incident against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 9 forced him to miss four games before he returned Monday night.

"The last week in the league has been pretty eye-opening," Larkin said, according to The Athletic's Max Bultman.

"It's been kind of a trend - this last week has been a highlight for player safety," Larkin continued. "As a player, I'm obviously closely attached because I just went through something, but I've talked to guys on our team, guys from other teams, and it's hard to feel safe out there. It's hard to know how to protect yourself."

Senators forward Mathieu Joseph punched Larkin in the back of the head but wasn't suspended. The only supplemental discipline stemming from the incident was a six-game suspension to David Perron of the Red Wings for retaliating.

Larkin laid motionless on the ice after Joseph punched him and Senators defenseman Artem Zub fell on his legs moments later. The Red Wings center was nearly taken off the ice on a stretcher. He left the game and didn't return.

"This instance, watching it back, I wasn't really doing anything," Larkin said. "I just was trying to make a play on the puck and just standing there, really. … How do you protect yourself? Who's protecting you? There's a lot of (unanswered questions) in our sport right now."

One night after the Larkin incident, Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome caught Winnipeg Jets winger Kyle Connor with a knee-on-knee hit that forced the potent scorer out of the lineup for six-to-eight weeks. The officials in that game gave Strome a five-minute major and a game misconduct. However, the NHL Department of Player Safety didn't follow suit with a suspension.

Larkin and Connor are both 27-year-old stars from Michigan. They played together on the United States squad that claimed the gold medal in the 2014 Under-18 World Championship.

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We have a massive 11-game slate ahead of us on Tuesday night. Let's take a look at my favorite ways to attack it as we look to build on a 4-1 start to the week between best bets and player props.

Avalanche (-250) @ Blackhawks (+210)

The Blackhawks are playing some truly miserable hockey right now. They have dropped four consecutive games, eight of the last 10, and controlled a league-low 38% of the expected goals share at five-on-five during that stretch.

They are consistently being outplayed by their opponents and don't have the talent to make up for that. The Blackhawks can't outscore their problems, nor can they bank on getting enough saves to mask them.

Things went from bad to worse a few games ago when Seth Jones suffered an injury. Although he is eligible to be activated from injured reserve at any point, there is still no official timetable for his return. That tells me it is very unlikely he will play against the Avalanche.

An already bad Blackhawks team would be in a world of trouble against the Avalanche at full health. Without Jones, the mountain will be that much harder to climb.

The Blackhawks have been outscored by 23 goals at five-on-five this season, yet Jones owns an even goal differential in that game state. He has played well for them.

I expect the Avalanche - who just lost the top spot in the Central Division - to completely overwhelm a thin Blackhawks defense with all of their firepower.

Eight of Chicago's last 10 losses have come by multiple goals. That trend should continue against one of the league's best teams.

Bet: Avalanche -1.5 (+100)

Senators (-120) @ Coyotes (+100)

Offense has not been an issue for the Senators this season. They rank 10th in goals per game, eighth in shots per game, and have no problem ramping things up when needed.

Their biggest concern has been at the other end of the rink. They make too many mistakes defensively, be it poor puck management in risky areas of the ice or blown assignments without the puck. The fact that D.J. Smith couldn't fix those problems is why he is no longer coaching the team.

Tightening the screws is going to be a big point of emphasis for interim coach Jacques Martin. He is a veteran coach who demands respect and will want to see a lot more structure and discipline from his players. I expect there to be a noticeable difference on the defensive side of things.

This is also a perfect matchup to slow things down and focus on playing a smarter, more responsible game. The Coyotes play a very low-event brand of hockey, and goals have been few and far between for them and their opponents in recent weeks.

The Coyotes have scored 1.99 goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five play in December. That is a bottom-five rate in the league. They have also conceded just 1.87 goals per 60 minutes, which is a top-five rate.

Put another way, the Coyotes are not scoring or allowing goals. They're playing slow, methodical hockey and banking on Connor Ingram to bring them home by keeping things locked down in goal - and it has worked for them.

Given the success the Coyotes have enjoyed playing this brand of hockey, there is no reason for them to open things up on Tuesday night. And, again, I expect the Senators to lean into a more conservative, responsible style under Martin - at least in the early going while they adjust to line changes and different schemes.

Bet: Under 6.5 (-110)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ToddCordell.

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We swept the board with our player props on Monday night, hitting a pair of overs and Cole Caufield's under to go a perfect 3-0.

We'll look to replicate Monday's success with three more props for Tuesday's massive card.

Jack Hughes: Over 4.5 shots

Hughes has been a shooting machine since returning from injury, particularly when playing at home.

He has taken his shot volume to an unmatched level, recording 45 shots on goal and 75 attempts over the last seven games in New Jersey. That equates to 6.4 shots on 10.7 attempts.

Expect another big output from Hughes against the Flyers. The Devils have not started the season as well as expected, but they can get themselves back into a playoff spot tonight with a big divisional win. Hughes will undoubtedly get all the ice he can handle and be up for the big moment as someone who embraces being the team's go-to guy.

The Flyers are a strong shot-suppression team, but Philadelphia doesn't control matchups on the road. That means Hughes will see a lot less of Selke candidate Sean Couturier than he would if the game was in Philadelphia.

Hughes also had a ceiling game the last time these two sides met, generating nine shots on 15 attempts while logging more than 23 minutes in a hotly contested affair.

He will likely struggle to match those totals this time around, but there's plenty of room for him to see a dip in production and still get the job done.

Odds: +120 (playable to -120)

Rasmus Dahlin: Over 2.5 shots

Dahlin is on a run. He's registered at least three shots in nine consecutive games, finishing with four or more in seven of them.

The Sabres have dealt with a lot of injuries to key forwards. Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, and Jeff Skinner have been in and out of the lineup. That's led to more falling on the plate of Dahlin, who is clearly up to the task.

Dahlin has averaged a healthy 6.6 shot attempts per game during this hot streak. That is well above his season average of 5.4, suggesting his recent success has come from more sustainable outputs rather than just getting lucky and hitting the net on a higher percentage of shots.

The Sabres appear to be getting a little healthier up front, but I still love Dahlin in this spot because the matchup is as good as it gets.

The Blue Jackets have bled shots all season long and struggled mightily to slow down opposing defensemen. In fact, only the Ducks have allowed more shots per game to the position over the last 10.

With Dahlin finding himself in a fast-paced matchup against a team that can't defend, he should be able to extend his streak to 10 straight games with at least three shots.

Odds: -135 (playable to -150)

Connor McDavid: Over 3.5 shots

McDavid hasn't generated shots at the same rate this season, but he is trending in the right direction. He has averaged 7.4 attempts per game over the past five, which is well ahead of his season average of 5.9.

He is in a fantastic spot to continue climbing out of his shell on Tuesday night. McDavid will square off against an Islanders team that ranks last in shot-attempt prevention over the last 10 games. These aren't the Islanders that played air-tight, low-event hockey under Barry Trotz.

The Isles trade shots and chances every single night, relying on great goaltending and improved finishing with Bo Horvat in the mix.

This game should have somewhat of a track-meet feel in terms of the volume of shots and chances. McDavid will no doubt be at the forefront of it all.

Odds: -125 (playable to -140)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ToddCordell.

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Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Quinn will be in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, head coach Don Granato told WGR 550 before the matchup.

Quinn sustained an Achilles tendon injury while training in June and underwent surgery. He was expected to miss the start of this season and had a four-to-six month timetable based on the typical recovery time.

The 22-year-old collected 14 goals and 23 assists over 75 games as a rookie last season, as well as two tallies and five helpers in 10 games for Canada en route to the gold medal at the World Championship.

Quinn produced 26 goals and 35 assists across 45 contests with the Sabres' AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, in 2021-22.

The Sabres drafted him eighth overall in 2020.

Buffalo has taken a step back this season after a promising 2022-23 campaign in which the rebuilding club missed the playoffs by a single point. The Sabres entered Tuesday sitting second-last in the Atlantic Division at 13-16-3.

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Matt and Blake discuss a three-point weekend for the Canucks with a win in Chicago and a shootout loss in Minnesota. Topics include: Dakota Joshua and the play of the 3rd line, league accolades for Thatcher Demko and another strong start from Casey DeSmith, the play of Tyler Myers, Nikita Zadorov avenging Elias Pettersson and a good game (when they needed it) from #40, the continued gap to third-place and the LA Kings, and the best acquisitions (given the cost) of the Rutherford/Allvin era.

Rink Wide: Vancouver host Jeff Paterson stops by to talk the weekend that was and preview the week ahead. Topics include: Brock Boeser returning to his home state, the case for re-signing Joshua and his expected cost, Zadorov taking the instigator to protect Petey, Pius Suter moved to Elias' wing, slow starts, and Connor Bedard's first game against his hometown Canucks.

Plus, we go To The People on Canucks topics and beyond. Presented by Applewood Auto Group.

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