NHL Central Division Betting Preview: One Best Bet For Each Team
The NHL season is just a few weeks away! After taking a look at one best bet for each team in the Pacific Division, it’s time to move along in the Western Conference over to the Central Division!
Here is one best bet for every team in the Central Division.
NHL Central Division Betting Preview: One Best Bet For Each Team
Colorado Avalanche
To Win The Central Divison (+165)
The Avalanche are looking for their fourth-straight Central Division title, and odds are they’ll get it.
Colorado lost in the first round last year, giving its guys a longer offseason for the first time in a while. The Avs are returning most of their key players with a few sneaky off-season additions like Ryan Johansen, Jonathan Drouin, and Tomas Tatar to add depth.
The Avs can withstand a long 82-game season and come out on top in the Central yet again.
Dallas Stars
To Win The Stanley Cup (+1800)
The Stars gave the Avalanche a run for their money in the regular season last year and finished just two wins shy of a Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Dallas is built for the playoffs. Jake Oettinger has proven that he can carry the team in the crease. They have veterans like Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin to mesh with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. The Stars also added Matt Duchene this summer.
This team should make the playoffs, and at that point, 18/1 to win the Stanley Cup is going to be a pretty good ticket to have.
Minnesota Wild
To Miss The Playoffs (+200)
The Wild are simply not very impressive. It’s the Kirill Kaprizov show in Minnesota, but that’s about it.
Matthew Boldy is a nice up-and-coming forward, but Minnesota’s depth after Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello, and Joel Eriksson Ek is very suspect. The Wild defensemen are lacking as well.
They’re making the most of having over $15 million in dead cap space due to the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, but those may end up haunting them when they can’t make any real in-season additions. The Wild may end up sneaking into the playoffs, but +200 is just too good of a price for them to miss.
Winnipeg Jets
To Make The Playoffs (-125)
With the Wild missing the playoffs, there is going to be another Central team jumping them in the division. Enter the Winnipeg Jets.
Much has been made about Winnipeg’s culture over the past few years. But now Blake Wheeler is gone, and while Mark Scheifele may join him out the door, he’s still a member of a talented Jets team.
Connor Hellebuyck is one of the most underrated goalies in the league, and Josh Morrissey established himself as a top-pair defenseman last season. With Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers leading the way up front, this team has what it takes to make the playoffs at only -125.
Nashville Predators
To Miss The Playoffs (-160)
The Predators are in the midst of a transition. Whether you want to call it a rebuild or a retool Nashville should not be competitive this season.
They bought out Matt Duchene. They traded away Ryan Johansen for peanuts. Sure, they brought in Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist to replace them, but that’s not exactly an upgrade.
The Predators peaked two years ago when most of their players had career years. They’ll see that regression to the mean, especially with Luke Schenn slated to play on their top pair.
Take Nashville to miss the playoffs (-160), and I don’t hate taking a stab at Worst Regular Season Record (+7000). The Preds are a Juuse Saros injury away from being in the basement.
St. Louis Blues
To Miss The Playoffs (-172)
The Blues are another Central Division team in a retool. They shipped out a few key pieces last trade deadline and made an attempt to reload this offseason with a few depth additions. However, that may not be enough with the Avalanche, Stars, and either the Wild or Jets ahead of them.
Jordan Binnington isn’t worth his contract. Joel Hofer could take over the net, but that still doesn’t inspire enough confidence to make this a playoff team.
Arizona Coyotes
Under 79.5 Points (-115)
Logan Cooley may have already scored the goal of the year, and that might be the high point for the Coyotes this season.
The Coyotes had 70 points last season, a 13-point improvement on their 57 the year prior. Arizona is on the up and up, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll make another double-digit improvement in the points category.
Chicago Blackhawks
Connor Bedard Over 31.5 Goals (-115)
Connor Bedard is going to be the reason to watch the Blackhawks this season. This kid is generational, and his odds for the Calder Trophy (-140) reflect that.
An easier way to bet on Bedard is his goal total. If he wins the Calder, it’s likely that he’ll score at least 32 goals. Some books are also offering alternate goal totals. If you want to go up the ladder, you can get 40+ goals at +480 and 50+ goals at +3000.
