NHL: Arizona Coyotes vs. New Jersey Devils odds, pick & prediction
Don’t look now but the Arizona Coyotes are a bit of a trendy sleeper in the NHL this season. Nobody is picking or expecting the Coyotes to make a serious charge at the Stanley Cup or anything like that, but the Desert Dogs have been circled as a potential gatecrasher in the playoff race.
Nonetheless, the Coyotes are still a big underdog in their season-opener against the New Jersey Devils.
There’s a couple of reasons to believe that Arizona could end up surprising its way to a playoff berth. For one, the Coyotes have a terrific young core that should continue to get better. Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton, Matias Maccelli and Nick Schmaltz all took big strides forward in 2022-23 and now will be joined by Logan Cooley, who would be the favorite to win the Calder Trophy if Connor Bedard wasn’t around.
And instead of standing pat and just relying on the kids, the Coyotes spent the summer bringing in proven NHL veterans like Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, Sean Durzi and Alex Kerfoot to give this team actual depth for the first time in years.
The Devils are one of the best teams in the NHL and there’s no shortage of people backing them to win the Presidents’ Trophy and/or Stanley Cup, so this looks like a mismatch on the surface, which is why there’s such a wide gap in the odds.
The Coyotes have been bad for a number of years, but they took a decent step forward in 2022-23 and on paper they project to be a lot better this season. This number seems to be pricing the Coyotes as if they’re still one of the worst teams in the league, which is just not true. Take a shot on the upstart Coyotes to pull the upset in Newark on Friday night.
Arizona Coyotes +210
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