With less than two weeks remaining until the puck drops on the NHL season it’s shaping up to be a two-way race once again in the Central Division, with the Winnipeg Jets closely trailing the Nashville Predators as a +160 wager on the NHL betting futures to capture the division crown at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Winnipeg is coming off a record-setting campaign which it closed out with 114 points, just three shy of the first-place Predators, before embarking on a playoff run that took the team to the Western Conference final for the first time in franchise history.
The Jets came up short in this summer’s unrestricted free agent market, and were unable to re-sign centre Paul Stastny. However, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff kept busy by coming to terms on contract extensions with team captain Blake Wheeler, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and defenceman Josh Morrissey.
[relatedlinks]
The moves have paid dividends for the Jets on the NHL futures, where they sit level with the Predators as a +550 bet to claim the Western Conference, and trail only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning as a short +850 wager on the Stanley Cup odds.
General manager David Poile avoided tinkering during the off-season despite seeing his Predators make a second-round exit in last spring’s playoffs with a seven-game series loss to Winnipeg.
While Nashville failed to repeat as Western Conference champions, the Predators return to action buoyed by optimism after leading the NHL last season with a franchise-record 53 wins and 117 points.
The Predators have opened the pre-season as a narrow +150 favourite to repeat as Central Division champions, but remain stalled at +1100 on the Stanley Cup odds, alongside the Golden Knights and the defending champion Washington Capitals.
Further down the Central Division odds, the St. Louis Blues remain knotted with the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars at +850, well ahead of the Colorado Avalanche at +1800, while the Chicago Blackhawks trail as +2000 longshots.
The Blues have beefed up last season’s 24th-ranked offence with the addition of forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak, and own -135 odds of returning to the playoffs on the NHL betting props.
The Stars’ most notable off-season move has been the signing of star forward Tyler Seguin to an eight-year contract extension, but they sport -105 odds of seeing their playoff drought extend to three years.
The Avalanche are also expected to take a step back after making their first playoff appearance in four years, sporting hefty -350 odds of finishing outside the playoff picture for the seventh time in nine years, and -130 odds of racking up UNDER 86.5 points.
