NHL predictions, odds: Three long shot picks for Presidents' Trophy
For the first time in a couple of seasons the race for the Presidents’ Trophy — given to the team with the best regular-season record in the NHL — is wide open.
By this point last season, the Boston Bruins had basically locked up the honor with their historically good start and it wasn’t much deeper into the 2021-22 campaign that the Florida Panthers (the eventual winners) and Colorado Avalanche turned it into a two-team race.
And in 2018-19 (we’ll skip the two COVID-shortened seasons for purposes of this exercise), it was the Tampa Bay Lightning that racked up 128 points and had a spot reserved for the Presidents’ Trophy in their mantle by New Year’s Day.
But the 2023-24 regular season has followed a very different script.
There are certainly some teams that have established themselves as the class of the league through the first half of the campaign, but nobody has separated themselves from the pack just yet.
At the time of writing the Boston Bruins lead the circuit with 52 points from 36 games, but the B’s have no margin for error in this race as there are four teams with at least 50 points (New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets) and five more within six points of Boston.
With so many teams still in the race and plenty of runway left in this season, you could make a compelling case for a long-shot bet to win the Presidents’ Trophy.
Let’s take a look at three teams that could be worth a punt for those who like to have a flutter:
In my opinion, the Cats are the class of the Eastern Conference.
They’re deep up front, stable on the blue line and have a reliable goaltending tandem.
What’s more is the Panthers look like a team that can get white-hot during the second half.
Florida ranks fifth in the NHL in expected goals percentage and third in high-danger scoring rate, but its actual results lag behind.
The Cats have been unlucky in front of goal and their best player, Matthew Tkachuk, has yet to hit his stride this season.
When those two things turn around, this team should surge up the table.
It was a sluggish start to the season for the Hurricanes but they’ve come alive of late with a 7-1-3 run in their last 10 games.
It’s no coincidence that Carolina’s recent surge was timed perfectly with goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov finding his game and stabilizing the situation in goal for the Canes, who desperately needed to get some saves.
If Kochetkov can hold the fort long enough for Frederik Andersen to get healthy, there’s every reason to believe Carolina can get hot enough to put together a sparkling second half.
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Let’s get crazy.
The Oilers were 3-9-1 out of the gates and fired head coach Jay Woodcroft to light a spark under a team that was one of the favorites to win this award on opening night.
They’ve got a ton of work to do — they’re 12 points and 19 teams behind the league-leaders — but they’re already on a roll with six wins on the spin and a 17-6-0 record under former Rangers minor-league coach Kris Knoblauch.
Edmonton’s statistical profile was always elite, it was just a matter of Connor McDavid getting healthy and the goaltending finding some form.
Both of those things have happened and it wouldn’t be a gigantic shock if this team kept up this pace.
It’s a long shot for a reason, but it’s quite a tempting play at this number especially since we just saw this team go 30-7-7 after New Year’s Day in 2022-23.
