NHL start 2021 – favourites, Stanley Cup odds & predictions
Who will win the Stanley Cup 2021?
After the NHL start has been postponed several times, the first Bully of the 2021 NHL season will rise on January 13th when the Philadelphia Flyers receive the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Then a season starts, but due to the current Covid situation, it will be a little different and unusual.
There will only be 56 games per team and the divisions have been completely redistributed in order to have to cover shorter distances.
For the first time, all seven Canadian teams are playing in one division (North Division). The other three divisions were also created according to geographical guidelines (East, Central and West Division).
Does this affect the betting odds of the betting providers or also the favourites for the NHL season 2021?
At first glance, not and since the divisions were divided fairly and evenly, we currently see no reason for too big postponements.
NHL betting & odds: Who will be the 2021 Stanley Cup winner?
Betting Prediction: Colorado Avalanche
Odds: 7.50
Betting Prediction: Vegas Golden Knights
Odds: 8:00
Betting Prediction: Tampa Bay Lightning
Odds: 9:00
Betting Prediction: Boston Bruins
Odds: 13.00
Betting Prediction: Toronto Maple Leafs
Odds: 12.00
Betting Prediction: Philadelphia Flyers
Odds: 15.00
Betting Prediction: Pittsburgh Penguins
Odds: 17.00
Betting Prediction: Edmonton Oilers
Odds: 21.00
NHL start 2021: The 8 championship favourites in check
🇺🇸 Colorado Avalanche
Odds: 7.50
At first glance, much of the Colorado Avalanche has stayed the same before the NHL start in 2021. Same front row, same goalie tandem around the German Philipp Grubauer and the same head coach.
The fact that the Colorado Avalanche are still considered the top favourites for the Stanley Cup at the NHL betting odds is primarily due to their well-established attitude.
Only Matt Nieto and Vladislav Namestnikov left the team, although the Russian only served in Colorado during the pre-season and played 21 games for them.
The successful core of the team could, however, be kept. With Burakovsy, Burroughs, Dries, Graves, Jost, Misak and Toews, almost all free agents were resigned, which meant that the quality could be maintained.
They also secured a promising defence talent in the draft with Justin Barron.
The expected line-up of the Avalanche:
G: 🇩🇪 Philipp Grubauer
D: 🇨🇦 Ryan Graves
D: 🇨🇦 Cale Makar
LW: 🇸🇪 Gabriel Landeskog
C: 🇨🇦 Nathan McKinnon
RW: 🇫🇮Mikko Rantanen
Goalie performance as an Achilles heel
As far as the status of the absolute top favourite before the start of the NHL is concerned, we are not quite in line with the bookmakers, but we also see them as hot contenders for the Stanley Cup Finals or at least for the semi-finals.
If that is to succeed, however, they need even more support from the goalie position. Well, they had a lot of bad luck with injuries in 2020 when Grubauer and Francouz were out one after the other in the postseason.
If one of the two manages a strong season without injuries – right into the playoffs – then this year can be something for Colorado.
If we were to bet on them, however, we would wait a little longer until the goalie situation is clear and whether the problems there could be resolved.
🇺🇸 Vegas Golden Knights
Odds: 8.00
We’ve already mentioned the Vegas Golden Knights as one of the top favourites and we’re sticking to it.
With Alex Pietrangelo, they have secured one of the best defenders in the league, who has also won the Stanley Cup with the Blues. Winners are welcome everywhere.
Otherwise, there won’t be too many changes in Vegas before the NHL start in 2021, which of course, as everywhere, is due to the crazy season. At the moment, teams are a little more cautious about awarding very long and high-value contracts.
However, this plays into the cards of the Golden Knights, as they were already a top 4 team in the league in 2020. Similar to the Avalanche, they can attack again with a well-rehearsed team – with one decisive advantage: They have an outstanding goalie duo.
The expected line-up of the Knights:
G: 🇨🇦 Marc-Andre Fleury
D: 🇨🇦 Brayden McNabb
D: 🇨🇦 Alex Pietrangelo
LW: 🇨🇦 Jonathan Marchessault
C: 🇸🇪 William Karlsson
RW: 🇨🇦 Reilly Smith
Lehner and Fleury the trump card in the playoffs?
Their stats don’t read quite as well as expected, but if we asked 31 NHL head coaches which current duo they would like best, at least 25 would name Lehner and Fleury.
By signing Pietrangelo, their defence could be strengthened a bit, which makes it even easier for the two behind them to shine.
Hardly anyone can fool the Knights offensive anyway. In 2019/20 there was no team that fired more shots per game than Vegas (34.5).
We see them as the main favourites in the west and can very well imagine betting on an overall winner from Vegas.
🇺🇸 Tampa Bay Lightning
Odds: 9.00
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reached their destination. After a number of disappointments in the previous years, when they repeatedly stumbled as co-favourites, they finally hit the jackpot in September. Perhaps the audience had to be absent first so that they could get their nerves under control.
But can the Bolts repeat this success in 2021?
It will be difficult for a variety of reasons. On the one hand, unlike in the NBA, there are very few repeat offenders in the NHL – teams that win the Cup in two consecutive years.
Champions fatigue is much more prevalent in this league and could also affect the Lightning. In the past 20 years, only the Penguins have been able to defend their title in 2017.
Especially since they will now miss top scorer Nikita Kucherov, who had to undergo hip surgery, in the regular season. He could possibly return to the playoffs, but what condition he is in then remains questionable.
The expected line-up of the Lightning:
G: 🇱🇻 Andrei Vasilevskiy
D: 🇸🇪 Viktor Hedman
D: 🇨🇦 Eric Cernak
LW: 🇨🇿 Ondrei Palat
C: 🇨🇦 Brayden Point
RW: 🇷🇺 Nikita Kucherov
At the start of the NHL: A completely different team without Kucherov?
With Kevin Shattenkirk and Zach Bogosian, two top performers also left the team.
All in all, we see Tampa Bay before the start of the NHL season in 2021 much weaker than last year, where they fully deserved the cup.
They still have a powerful team together, but without a perfectly fit Kucherov and without this unbroken will to finally win the cup, we see them only as one of the numerous teams with outsider chances.
Betting on Tampa as the cup winner should therefore be avoided at this point in time. The situation is different with bets on a division win. We have her at the top of the list in the Central Division.
🇺🇸 Boston Bruins
Odds: 13.00
The Boston Bruins take the next attempt. After failing twice in the playoffs against the Lightning and only once in the finals against the Blues in the last three years, many in and around Boston say that the franchise is finally up to it.
This fact cannot be completely denied, especially since we assume that your feared opponent from Tampa is somewhat negligible this year. The decisive factor for whether they will succeed in 2021 is, among other things, their personnel situation on the defensive.
With Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara, they lost two of their most important defenders in the offseason, although the departure from Chara to Washington came as a bit of a surprise.
From our point of view, however, this offers Boston the chance of a long-overdue generation change in defence.
The expected line-up of the Bruins:
G: 🇫🇮 Tuukka Rask
D: 🇨🇦 Matt Grzelcyk
D:🇨🇦 Charlie McAvoy
LW: 🇨🇦 Brad Marchand
C: 🇨🇦 Patrick Bergeron
RW: 🇨🇿 David Pastrnak
Is Chara’s departure even an advantage in retrospect?
Chara is now 43 years old and even if he can still do excellent checks, he has lost a lot of speed. Especially against the top players in the league like McDavid or McKinnon, this is a serious disadvantage, which was also noticeable in the pre-season.
With the Bruins, they now have the chance to establish young talents like Urho Vaakanainen or Jeremy Lauzon, who have significantly more upgrades than the ageing Slovak.
If they manage to find working defence pairs here, then the Bruins are one of our favourites in the east.
Stanley Cup bets on Boston before the start of the NHL season are also highly recommended due to the high value. Currently, they are only ranked 6th among the favourites – and for us, they are clearly too poorly classified.
🇨🇦 Toronto Maple Leafs
Odds: 12.00
The Maple Leafs are the big unknowns before the NHL start in 2021. Again, they start with great expectations, like last year – or the year before.
Each time the playoff came off in their first round. The last playoff round won was 17 years ago.
Nevertheless, we have to have Toronto back on the list before this NHL start, as they have strengthened themselves very well again. Wayne Simmonds came from Philadelphia and is a great asset to the back of the storm.
T.J. Brodie guided them from Calgary to Lake Ontario and it could become even more important as a piece of the puzzle. After all, he is immediately included in the first line of defence, where they often had problems in Toronto in recent years.
The expected line-up of the Leafs:
G: 🇳🇴 Frederik Andersen
D: 🇨🇦 Morgan Rielly
D: 🇨🇦 T.J. Brodie
LW: 🇨🇦 Zach Hyman
C: 🇺🇸 Auston Matthews
RW: 🇨🇦 Mitch Marner
Before the NHL start in 2021: will the Leafs break the playoff curse?
But what does that mean for Toronto’s chances compared to other teams in the north? So it should be certain that the Leafs will reach the postseason. They simply have too much firepower on the ice with Matthews, Marner, Tavares or Nylander.
We see a small question mark, similar to the Avs in the west, on their goalie position.
If Andersen and Campbell can go a step further here and deliver the urgently needed Save Percentage over 91.5%, then it could finally be their year. In the previous year, Andersen was there with a meagre 90.9% and thus only 31st in the league.
Bets on Toronto are definitely worth considering given the high current NHL betting odds. Her chances weren’t as good as this season.
🇺🇸 Philadelphia Flyers
Odds: 15.00
In our opinion, the Philadelphia Flyers are somewhat surprisingly among the favourites before the start of the 2021 NHL season.
Even if they were able to advance to the conference semifinals last year and only failed by a wafer 3: 4 against the Islanders, they have not made a step forward in this offseason.
Wayne Simmonds was surrendered, as were Tyler Pitlick, Nate Thompson and Mikhail Vorobyev. In addition, Matt Niskanen ended his career. Admittedly, none of these is the top stars, but in terms of depth, they have already lost some of their quality.
In addition, they have a very young goalie in Carter Hart, who did very well last year, but is still likely to fluctuate.
Brian Elliott as backup no longer has the very high class, so that they could be a little thinly filled in this position too.
Can the Flyers confirm their top season?
For Philadelphia, the same applies to some other teams this year: The East Division is by far the strongest division in the NHL and since only the top 4 teams qualify, it could be very close.
After all, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington and the two New York teams also play there.
Even if they make it back into the post season at the end of the day, we do not expect another playoff run before the NHL start in 2021. In addition, some other teams have strengthened themselves significantly better.
🇺🇸 Pittsburgh Penguins
Odds: 17.00
The 2016 and 2017 champions are on the decline.
While the Penguins were able to win 50 games in 2017, this number fell in the following years to 47, 44 and finally to 40 in the preseason, although there were a few fewer regular-season games there.
Nevertheless, the 1: 3 in the qualifying round against the Montréal Canadiens shows that the team has passed its zenith. Her top stars Malkin, Crosby and Letang are not getting any younger – there were also incomprehensible personnel decisions such as the renouncement of the fast Dominik Kahun.
With Tristan Jarry, they have at least fresh blood in goal and the Finn Kasperi Kapanen also promises a lot of upgrade potential in the next few years. Whether this will be enough for another big hit is questionable.
The expected line-up of the Penguins:
G: 🇨🇦 Carter Hart
D: 🇷🇺 Ivan Provorov
D: 🇨🇦 Philippe Myers
LW: 🇨🇦 Claude Giroux
C: 🇨🇦Sean Couturier
RW: 🇨🇿 Jakub Voracek
Injury-prone stars – weak power play
It will be of vital importance for the pens that their top players like the above-mentioned Crosby, Malkin and Letang are less absent than in the previous season. Together they came to 50 games in which at least one of them had to pass.
Since everyone also has their place in the two power-play units, it is not surprising that their power play game in 2019/20 was weak. A success rate of just 19.9% is a rank outside of the top 15 in the NHL.
If they can improve these two points and Tristan Jarry confirm his form, then Pittsburgh can of course always be expected. However, it is questionable that this will happen in exactly the same way, which is why we currently do not recommend betting on the Penguins as champions before the start of the NHL season in 2021.
🇨🇦 Edmonton Oilers
Odds: 21.00
Finally, we dedicate ourselves to the most exciting team of this season from a German perspective, the Edmonton Oilers.
With Leon Draisaitl and Dominik Kahun, there are two German national players in the squad and if everything goes as expected, the two will even play together in a storming row.
Just like as a junior when they shot the German junior leagues to rubble and ashes.
2009/2010 e.g. Draisaitl scored 114 points, Kahun even 137. If you can find this chemistry again in Edmonton, then from Oilers’ point of view this is a significant upgrade compared to the previous year. Otherwise, however, the Canadians did not have a very big trade.
The expected line-up of the Oilers:
G: 🇫🇮 Mikko Koskinen
D: 🇨🇦 Darnell Nurse
D: 🇨🇦 Ethan Bear
LW: 🇨🇦 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
C: 🇨🇦 Connor McDavid
RW: 🇫🇮 Jesse Puljujarvi
NHL Start: Trusting the Top Stars – Neglected Defense
It is still trusted that McDavid and Draisaitl will score as they did last season and that the defence would somehow gain more stability. Because of the top teams in the league, only the Maple Leafs have conceded more goals in 2019/20 (222) than Edmonton (215).
With Tyson Barrie, an experienced defenseman has now been won. They also hope that Adam Larsson will quickly regain his top form after his injury. If this happens, then the Oilers could become the dark horse of this season – especially at these great odds.
We get betting odds of up to 28.00 for Edmonton as Stanley Cup winner. Even if there are again many question marks behind their defence performance, they could make a breakthrough in this shortened season. Small stakes bets hold enormous odds here.
The betting base prediction for the NHL start 2021: who will be champions?
In summary, we have four favourites in focus for the 2021 NHL season, one for each newly divided division.
In the North Division, which only consists of Canadian teams, these are the Toronto Maple Leafs. They have the best squad purely in terms of depth and could therefore break their long-lasting playoff curse. Dark Horse in this division, however, is the dangerous Edmonton Oilers.
The East Division sees the Boston Bruins clearly ahead. They have been playing great regular seasons for three years now and it would be their turn in the battle for the Stanley Cup.
In the Central Division, the Tampa Bay Lightning are favoured. For a repeat as Stanley Cup Champion, we don’t have her at the top of the screen.
The most competitive of all divisions should be the West Division in 2021, where two of our top favourites will cross the runners with the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Those who prevail from these two will also have excellent chances of a Stanley Cup victory.
If we have to make a pick on a Stanley Cup pairing, it’s a matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Vegas Golden Knights – with slight advantages for the Bruins.
The NHL champions for the past 10 years
2020 Tampa Bay Lightning Dallas Stars (4-2)
2019 St. Louis Blues Boston Bruins (4: 3)
2018 Washington Capitals Vegas Golden Knights (4: 1)
2017 Pittsburgh Penguins Nashville Predators (4-2)
2016 Pittsburgh Penguins San Jose Sharks (4-2)
2015 Chicago Blackhawks Tampa Bay Lightning (4: 2)
2014 Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers (4: 1)
2013 Chicago Blackhawks Boston Bruins (4: 2)
2012 Los Angeles Kings New Jersey Devils (4: 2)
2011 Boston Bruins Vancouver Canucks (4-3)
This is how the 2021 NHL season works – schedule & mode
As mentioned above, there are some changes for the NHL season 2021, including the mode.
On the one hand, the 31 teams were divided into four new divisions, which were now determined strictly according to geographical criteria. The North Division includes all Canadian teams, so that difficult border crossings are no longer necessary in Corona times.
From each of these four divisions, the best four teams go to the playoffs, where the first two rounds are then also played within the division. Only the four division winners then compete against each other in the semi-finals across divisions.
Instead of 82 season games per team, there will only be 56 games this season, which is to ensure that the league can be finished as usual by mid-June at the latest.
The international games in Europe (Prague and Helsinki) planned for the 2020/21 season have been postponed to the 2021/22 season.
NHL start 2021: which team plays in which NHL division (Division, teams, favourites)
North Division: Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montréal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets
Favourites: Maple Leafs, Oilers
East Division: Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabers, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals
Favourites: Bruins, Penguins
Central Division: Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers
Favourites: Lightning, Hurricanes
West Division: Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues
Favourites: Avalanche, Golden Knights
NHL start 2021: These season bets are available
In addition to the bets and odds on the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup winner, the best bookmakers also have some other seasonal bets in their NHL betting programs before the NHL start in 2021, e.g. on the winner of the respective division.
Here, betting in the East and Central Division, in particular, is extremely worthwhile, as we have identified a top favourite there.
