North Division Odds: NHL Playoffs Betting Preview

As the Vancouver Canucks press on with their regular season make-up games against the Calgary Flames this week, the rest of the NHL has moved forward with the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Canucks’ North Division rivals will be in action this week as the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers start on Wednesday night and the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs start on Thursday night.

The Maple Leafs are the biggest favorite on the odds to win the Stanley Cup coming out of the North Division going off at +600 to do so at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Edmonton is on the Stanley Cup futures board at +1700 and is followed by Montreal at +3500 and Winnipeg at +4000 on those NHL odds.

And Toronto is a -340 favorite on the playoff series prices to win its first-round set against Montreal (+270). The Maple Leafs finished the regular season with the best record in the North at 35-14-7 including a 7-2-0 record in nine games against the Canadiens. Auston Matthews ran away with the NHL lead in goals with 41 goals in 52 games, a pace that could have produced 65 goals over 82 games. Montreal enters the postseason in the midst of a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) and went 24-21-11 this year.

The Oilers are a -180 favorite at online betting sites in their first-round matchup with the Jets (+160). Edmonton went 35-19-2 this season and won its season series against Winnipeg with a 7-2 record. The duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl finished the regular season first and second in points as Draisaitl had 84 points (31 goals, 53 assists) and McDavid had a whopping 105 points in 56 games with 33 goals and 72 assists. The Jets won their final two games of the regular season to finish the year with a 30-23-3 record and to shake off a 1-9 slump over the team’s previous 10 games.

The winners of these two series will meet in the second round where the champion of the North Division will be crowned. Vancouver has work to do this offseason to get back into the playoff picture in 2021-22.