As NHL training camps get underway it remains a two-way race atop the odds to win the Pacific Division with the San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights deadlocked as +275 co-favourites on the NHL futures at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
It has been a hectic summer for Vegas general manager George McPhee. The architect of the Golden Knights’ historic run to last season’s Stanley Cup final has been busy bolstering a roster that claimed top spot in the Pacific standings last season, inking forward Paul Stastny to a three-year deal and also signing forward William Karlsson and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to new contracts.
And McPhee added additional firepower to an offence that finished fourth in goals scored last season by acquiring five-time 30-goal scorer Max Pacioretty from the Montreal Canadiens earlier this week, further cementing the Golden Knights’ position as a solid +1100 wager on the Stanley Cup odds.
San Jose extended its lengthy track record as a Pacific Division contender last season, reaching the 45-win mark for the fourth time in five years on its way to a 100-point finish, good for third place in the division standings. The Sharks kept busy extending the contracts of key personnel during the offseason, with both Logan Couture and Evander Kane signed.
The Los Angeles Kings trail the favourites at +350 on the Pacific Division odds, followed by the Anaheim Ducks at +500, while the Calgary Flames are pegged as the top Canadian club on the those division futures at +600 odds.
The big news out of Calgary this summer broke on NHL Draft weekend, when the Flames completed a blockbuster trade with Carolina that sent defencemen Dougie Hamilton and Adam Fox and forward Micheal Ferland to the Hurricanes in exchange for defenceman Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm. The team also added free-agent forward James Neal, who spent last season in Vegas.
However, it has been 12 years since Calgary last claimed a divisional crown, with the club earning a playoff berth just twice in the past nine years.
The Edmonton Oilers trail at +650 on the Pacific Division odds, well ahead of the Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes, who each sport long +3300 odds.
The Oilers took a step back last season after ending a 10-year playoff drought in 2016/17, winning just 36 games to finish out of playoff contention, and took few steps to improve their roster over the summer. The Canucks remain in rebuild mode, but hope to build on last year’s seventh-place finish with rookies like centre Elias Pettersson and defenceman Quinn Hughes
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