Way Too Early Look at the 2024-25 NHL Season
Way Too Early Look at the 2024-25 NHL Season
We’re in the dull part of the NHL offseason here in the dog days of July. The Stanley Cup was awarded a couple of weeks ago when the Panthers bested the Oilers in Game 7. That was followed in short succession by the NHL Draft and the big blitz of free agency that comes in the first couple of days of July. That leaves us with a fairly good idea of what teams should look like when the puck drops at the start of the season. A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the early odds for who would win the Stanley Cup in the 2024/25 season. Today, we take a look at the updated odds and give some early predictions on potential team success. The odds, courtesy of DraftKings.com, are accurate as of this publishing. We’ll list the original odds from before the draft/free agency, followed by the updated odds for each team.
2024-25 Favorites to Win Stanley Cup
Florida Panthers +900 -> +900
Dallas Stars +900 -> +1100
Edmonton Oilers +950 -> +850
Colorado Avalanche +1200 -> +1300
New York Rangers +1200 -> +1300
Carolina Hurricanes +1200 -> +1300
New Jersey Devils +1300 -> +1300
Vegas Golden Knights +1600 -> +1600
Toronto Maple Leafs +1600 -> +1300
Vancouver Canucks +2000 -> +2200
Boston Bruins +2000 -> +1800
Winnipeg Jets +2000 -> +2500
Los Angeles Kings +2200 -> +2200
Tampa Bay Lightning +2500 -> +2500
Ottawa Senators +3500 -> +3500
Nashville Predators +3500 -> +1800
Detroit Red Wings +3500 -> +4000
Pittsburgh Penguins +4000 -> +4500
New York Islanders +4000 -> +4500
Minnesota Wild +4000 -> +4000
Buffalo Sabres +4000 -> +5000
St. Louis Blues +4500 -> +5500
Philadelphia Flyers +5000 -> +6000
Seattle Kraken +6000 -> +5500
Washington Capitals +7500 -> +6000
Montreal Canadiens +7500 -> +12000
Utah Hockey Club +7500 -> +5500
Calgary Flames +7500 -> +7500
Chicago Blackhawks +15000 -> +15000
Columbus Blue Jackets +15000 -> +20000
Anaheim Ducks +15000 -> +20000
San Jose Sharks +30000 -> +40000
As we can see, there wasn’t a ton of movement in the upper echelon of teams in regard to the odds. Edmonton moved from having the third-best odds to having the top odds to win the Stanley Cup, while Toronto moved from a tie for eighth to a tie for the fourth-best odds next season. The biggest mover and shaker was the Predators, who sliced their odds nearly in half from 35-1 to 18-1 after signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and Scott Wedgewood to bolster their depth in all position groups. Among the longshots, Washington moved from 75-1 to 60-1 after retooling their blueline group and adding Pierre-Luc Dubois to the forwards.
Our Pick: Colorado Avalanche (+1300)
It’s tough to argue with a team that has Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar leading the way. The Avalanche can score with anyone and pile up four or five goals seemingly at will on any given night in the regular season. If they can get Alexandar Georgiev to play more like he did in the regular season of 2022-23 (2.53 GAA, .918 save %, five SO) than last season (3.02 GAA, .897 save %, two SO), they could be extremely dangerous. After all, this team won the Cup three years ago with Darcy Kuemper between the pipes. Can anyone argue that he’s better than Georgiev?
Odds to Win Western Conference
Edmonton Oilers +400
Dallas Stars +500
Colorado Avalanche +650
Vegas Golden Knights +750
Nashville Predators +850
Vancouver Canucks +1000
Los Angeles Kings +1000
Winnipeg Jets +1100
Minnesota Wild +2000
Utah Hockey Club +2800
St. Louis Blues +2800
Seattle Kraken +2800
Calgary Flames +4000
Chicago Blackhawks +7500
Anaheim Ducks +10000
San Jose Sharks +20000
Our Pick: Colorado Avalanche (+650)
We discussed this above, so no need to rehash why a team should win their conference if we have them projected to win the title.
Odds to Win Eastern Conference
Florida Panthers +550
Toronto Maple Leafs +650
New York Rangers +650
New Jersey Devils +650
Carolina Hurricanes +650
Boston Bruins +900
Tampa Bay Lightning +1200
Ottawa Senators +1800
Pittsburgh Penguins +2200
New York Islanders +2200
Detroit Red Wings +2200
Buffalo Sabres +2500
Washington Capitals +3000
Philadelphia Flyers +3000
Montreal Canadiens +6000
Columbus Blue Jackets +10000
Our Pick: New York Rangers (+650)
This one is tough as there are five teams pretty much jammed together at the top. The two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Panthers are the rightful favorite because, as Ric Flair once said, “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” and right now, they’re the man. The problem is that they did lose several key depth contributors from their title winning team and it might be tough to try and replace those pieces. Toronto bolstered their blueline and has turned the net over to Joseph Woll, who has to show he can handle the #1 role. New Jersey has to have their young nucleus step forward and stay healthy if they want to have success. Carolina has a new coach and a new GM, plus some new faces, so it’s tough to know what to expect from them. The Rangers have an elite goaltender in Igor Shesterkin, talented forwards like Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider, plus an aggressive defensive group. They can take down anyone in the postseason as long as they stay on their game.
Odds to Win President’s Trophy
Edmonton Oilers +650
Florida Panthers +750
Dallas Stars +900
Colorado Avalanche +1100
Toronto Maple Leafs +1100
New York Rangers +1300
New Jersey Devils +1300
Carolina Hurricanes +1300
Nashville Predators +1600
Vegas Golden Knights +1600
Boston Bruins +2000
Tampa Bay Lightning +2000
Los Angeles Kings +2500
Winnipeg Jets +2500
Vancouver Canucks +2500
Pittsburgh Penguins +5000
Ottawa Senators +5000
New York Islanders +5000
Minnesota Wild +5000
Detroit Red Wings +5000
Seattle Kraken +7500
Utah Hockey Club +7500
Philadelphia Flyers +9000
Buffalo Sabres +9000
Washington Capitals +9000
St. Louis Blues +9000
Calgary Flames +12000
Montreal Canadiens +15000
Chicago Blackhawks +50000
Columbus Blue Jackets +50000
Anaheim Ducks +50000
San Jose Sharks +100000
Our Pick: Florida Panthers (+750)
There hasn’t been a President’s Trophy winning team that hoisted Lord Stanley’s chalice in the same season since the Blackhawks in 2012-13. Why break that trend here? The Panthers have won the East two straight years and leapfrogged the Bruins in the final days of the season to win the Atlantic Division. They were just four points behind the Rangers for the President’s Trophy last season and were one of 10 teams with at least 100 points. Look for Sergei Bobrovsky to shoulder the load in net and the Panthers to shrug off a potential hangover at the start of the season to end up with the league’s top record.
The offseason will roll on with lesser signings and potential trades dotting the landscape over the next couple of weeks. Preseason hockey will kick off on September 21 while the regular season will get underway on October 4 and 5 when the Sabres and Devils square off in a pair of games at the O2 Arena in Prague. It may seem like an eternity now, but in three short months, the first meaningful games of the 2024-25 season will be upon us. Next week, we’ll look at individual division odds and start taking a look at early favorites for individual awards, so as the late Billy Red Lyons used to say, “Don’t you
