As our colleague Roy Larking highlighted last month, the NHL is playing an abbreviated schedule consisting of 56 regular season games as well as a vastly different structure of the league.
“The structure of the league has changed dramatically as the Eastern and Western Conference setup has been eliminated for the 2021 season. In its place, the league is set up with four divisions based largely on the team’s geographic locations. The eight teams in the East, Central and West divisions will play each other eight times during the regular season. The seven Canadian teams have been placed in the North Division and will play each other either nine or 10 times.
Barring any COVID-19 related complications; the schedule consists of 868 games that will be played over 116 days. The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to begin on May 11 and the top four teams in each division will advance to the postseason.”
Let’s dive in and take a deeper look at the NHL betting odds changes after a month of games for each division along with Stanley Cup futures at DraftKings Sportsbook.
2021 NHL CENTRAL DIVISION ODDS
Tampa Bay -118
Carolina +250
Dallas +650
Florida +800
Chicago +2000
Nashville +2500
Columbus +3000
Detroit +25000
Vegas Whispers Breakdown: The defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning sit atop the Central Division on a six-game winning streak. Tampa Bay is 9-1-1 (19 points) – holding an edge over Florida, Columbus and Chicago. The Lightning possess an impressive +17 goal differential over their first 10 games thanks to netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. He holds an 8-1-1 record with an impressive 1.80 GAA and a .936 save percentage.
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2021 NHL EAST DIVISION ODDS
Boston +110
Philadelphia +325
Washington +500
Pittsburgh +750
NY Islanders +1400
NY Rangers +1600
Buffalo +2200
NJ Devils +2500
Vegas Whispers Breakdown: Not much has changed from the opening odds as the Boston Bruins (9-1-2, 20 points) and the Philadelphia Flyers (8-3-2, 18 points) are the early leaders atop the Eastern Division. The Bruins, on a four-game winning streak, are the only team to hold a positive double-digit goal differential +13 in the division due to the efforts of forwards Brad Marchand (8 goals; 8 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (6 goals; 10 assists).
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2021 NHL NORTH DIVISION ODDS
Toronto +105
Montreal +120
Winnipeg +900
Calgary +1100
Edmonton +1300
Vancouver +2500
Ottawa +40000
Vegas Whispers Breakdown: The Toronto Maple Leafs, (11-2-1, 23 points) are once again the betting favorite in the North thanks to the strong play of the league’s top goalscorer in Austin Matthews (11 goals). The oddsmakers at DraftKings Sportsbook, after opening the Montreal Canadiens (8-3-2, 18 points) at odds of 4/1 have dropped their odds to +120 thanks to the play of goalie Jake Allen who sports a 4-1 record and a stellar 1.81 GAA as well as center Tyler Toffoli who is tied for second in the NHL in goals scored (9). Although the Oilers lead the league in goals scored as a team (52) they have struggled to translate that into wins ranking second-worst in goals allowed (52).
2021 NHL WEST DIVISION ODDS
Colorado +150
Vegas +150
St. Louis +300
Minnesota +1500
Arizona +3000
Anaheim +5000
San Jose +5500
LA Kings +6000
Vegas Whispers Breakdown: The Colorado Avalanche (7-3-1, 15 points) and the Vegas Golden Knights (8-1-1, 17 points) are not only regarded as the best teams in the West Division but in the entire NHL. The odds at DraftKings Sportsbook prominently reflect that notion. Colorado has one the league’s best goalies in Phillip Grubauer who is 7-2 with a 1.67 GAA in his first nine games of the season. In Las Vegas, the Golden Knights are once again being led by star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury who is a perfect 5-0 with a stellar 1.81 GAA in five games.
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2021 STANLEY CUP ODDS
Colorado +750
Vegas +750
Tampa Bay +800
Toronto +900
Boston +1000
Montreal +1150
Carolina +1700
Philadelphia +1700
St. Louis +1700
Dallas +2000
Washington +2100
Pittsburgh +2400
Florida +2700
Edmonton +2800
Calgary +2900
Winnipeg +3000
Minnesota +3300
NY Islanders +3300
Nashville +4000
NY Rangers +4000
Columbus +5500
Arizona +6000
Vancouver +6000
Buffalo +7000
NJ Devils +7500
Anaheim +8000
San Jose +9000
Chicago +10000
LA Kings +10000
Detroit +50000
Ottawa +60000