Written by Scott on Sunday, October 8th, 2023
Follow @BetNHL
Note from Graeme: Welcome to the return of yet another NHL Season!
As per tradition, Scott and myself will do division futures betting analysis and tips for each division, prior to the beginning of the NHL season.
We do this less for the purpose of betting tips, and more for our own benefit to recap the off-season, and get prepared mentally for what to expect from each team going into the new season.
Futures bets should be nothing more than casual bets as you can never predict injuries, trades, or completely insane people involved such as Mike Babcock.
Quick note – I’m actually going away for a week. Scott will be handling NHL tips until I believe the 19th of October. However that works out as a lot of my betting tips rely on advanced metric data analysis, and that gives me a few games to start collating data.
Pacific Division Betting Odds
All the teams in the Pacific Division are listed below and also listed are the odds for them to win the division. The odds will change but this is a list of what we find on average.
- Edmonton Oilers – 3.10
- Vegas Golden Knights – 3.30
- Los Angeles Kings – 4.80
- Calgary Flames – 7.50
- Seattle Kraken – 10.50
- Vancouver Canucks – 14.00
- San Jose Sharks – 101.00
- Anaheim Ducks – 201.00
Pacific Division Winners Betting Tips
I know I have picked the Oilers before to win the Pacific, but I really like their chances here.
The finished in 2nd last year, 2 points behind the Knights who went on to capture their first Stanley Cup.
When your team has McDavid then there’s a good chance you’ll have a good regular season. When they also have Draisaitl then it’s hard to bet against them. They also have Nugent-Hopkins, Kane, Hyman and Brown. And on paper it’s as good as it gets.
On defense they have Nurse, Bouchard and Ekholm. They just have to play decent defense as the Oilers are a team that believes the best defense is a good offense.
Skinner started 62 games last year in his first full season. Campbell can take over the roll if Skinner struggles.
Best Odds for the Oilers to win the Pacific
Ontario: 3.10 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Rest of Canada: 3.10 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: +185 Odds at BetOnline.
Everyone Else: 3.10 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Pacific Division Betting Analysis
Vegas Golden Knights
The Knights were quiet in the off-season, instead confident in the team they have that won them the Cup last year.
Eichel, Stone, Marchessault, Barbashev and Karlsson can do they work offensively for the Knights. They also have Kolesar, Howden, Carrier and Stephenson to chip in.
They have a solid D group with Pietrangelo, Theodore, McNabb, Hague and Martinez. They have a great combination of size and skill which makes them a nightmare to play against.
In goal Lehner will remain on injured reserve. It didn’t affect them much last season when Thompson and Hill helped them win the Cup.
A great team but as we have seen in past seasons, after a team wins the Cup they can be slow to get up to speed with the shortest amount of time off.
Best Odds for the Knights to win the Pacific
Ontario: 3.50 Odds at Sports Interaction
Rest of Canada: 3.50 Odds at Sports Interaction
USA: +225 Odds at Intertops.
Everyone Else: 3.50 Odds at Sports Interaction
Los Angeles Kings
The Kings made a big splash in the off-season acquiring Dubois. He will help the team but they had to give up two big pieces in Vilardi and Iafallo. The still have Kopitar, Kempe, Fiala and Byfield so they should still be able to be in the top 10 in the league in GPG.
Doughty leads the way as usual for the Kings. But after him the depth and skill drops off so they will need to play well as a group.
In goal they have Copley who will split starts with free agent pick up Talbot. Copley was good last year winning 9 of his first 10 games.
Best Odds for the Kings to win the division
Ontario: 4.80 Odds at Sports Interaction
Rest of Canada: 4.80 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: +375 Odds at BetOnline.
Everyone Else: 4.80 Odds at Sports Interaction
Calgary Flames
The Flames were quiet in the off-season. They lost Toffoli, Lucic and Lewis and replaced them with Sharangovich who put up 13 goals and 30 points in 75 games last season.
A bounce back year from Huberdeau will go a long way towards any success the Flames have. He had 115 points in the season before joining Calgary to drop to only 55 last year. He’s joined by Kadri, Lindholm and Mangiapane.
The strongest part of the Flames is the defense. They have Andersson and Weegar who are a good top pair. Hanifin and Tanev are a good 2nd pair.
In goal it’s Markstrom who was terrible last year and he should be better this time around. Vladar is the backup.
Best Odds for Flames to win the Pacific
Ontario: 8.50 Odds at BetOnline.
Rest of Canada: 9.50 Odds at BetOnline.
USA: +850 Odds at Sports Interaction
Everyone Else: 9.50 Odds at BetOnline.
Seattle Kraken
The Kraken had a great season last year. They improved their point total to 100 points, beat the defending champion Avalanche in round and took the Stars to game 7 in the 2nd round.
Beniers is going to keep getting better. McCann scored 40 and Eberle, Schwartz and Bjorkstrand all hit 20. They also have Gourde and Tolvanen to chip in and former 1st overall pick Wright will be eager to earn a spot in the top 6.
The defense is good but is helped out by the two-way play the forwards provide. They have Dunn, Larsson, Oleksiak and Dumoulin.
The goaltending was good but not great. Grubauer will be the starter and with Jones gone the backup duties fall to Driedger.
Best Odds for the Kraken to win the Pacific
Ontario: 11.00 Odds at Sports Interaction
Rest of Canada: 11.00 Odds at Sports Interaction
USA: +1000 Odds at Intertops.
Everyone Else: 11.00 Odds at Intertops.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have Pettersson, Boeser and Kuzmenko as the top line and Miller Garland and Beauvillier as line 2. They need to add another winger who can score to give the much needed depth.
The Cancucks decided it was time to rebuild their back end. Out went Ekman-Larsson, Burroughs, Bear and Dermott. In came Cole, Soucy and Irwin. Hughes can only do so much so it was crucial to get him some help.
Demko is the starter and he has a rough season last year. Martin is the backup and they will need one, or both, of the goalies to have a bounce back year.
Best Odds for the Canucks to win the division
Ontario: 14.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Rest of Canada: 14.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: +1400 Odds at BetOnline.
Everyone Else: 14.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
San Jose Sharks
On paper the Sharks look better than their record will show.
Hertl, Couture, Labanc and Barabonov are joined by off-season pickups Hoffman, Duclair, Granlund and Zadina. So they should be able to improve on their 25th ranked offense from last season.
But the defense was worse ranking 30th. Karlsson is gone and their top 4 is some combo of Ferraro, Rutta, Benning and Vlasic. Not exactly exciting for Sharks fans.
The Sharks had a league worst .881 save percentage last season. They brought in Blackwood who will share the crease with Kahkonen.
Best Odds for the Sharks to win the Pacific
Ontario: 151.00 Odds at Sports Interaction
Rest of Canada: 151.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: +10000 Odds at Intertops.
Everyone Else: 151.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have some pieces to be excited about but I feel they are at least a few years away from being taken seriously.
Zegras does some crazy shit with the puck that bothers so of the old school players and fans but he always has people talking about what he does. He’s joined by Terry, McTavish, Vatrano and Silfverberg.
The defense was ranked 32nd so they did add Gudas and Hagg to help Drysdale and Fowler.
Gibson faced a pile of shots last season. The Ducks faced an NHL records 39.1 shots per game. You can’t put all of the blame on him as the team in front of him was bad each night.
Best Odds for the Ducks to win the Pacific
Ontario: 201.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Rest of Canada: 201.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: +20000 Odds at BetOnline.
Everyone Else: 201.00 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
