A majority of the NHL regular season has come to a close with the lone exception coming out west as the Vancouver Canucks make up their heavily postponed schedule after dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak earlier this season.
While the Flyers’ campaign came to a disappointing end, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are still the most entertaining postseason in major North American sports — and it won’t be an exception this year even with a tweaked format.
Due to the pandemic, teams within the same division could only play each other to cut down on travel and to work around Canada’s closed borders, forcing the NHL to create a division of the seven northern teams.
The same idea will carry into the first two rounds of the playoffs, as the top four teams within each division play each other to move onto the Stanley Cup semifinals — one team from each division ultimately moving onto the NHL’s final four.
With all 16 playoff teams already having punched their tickets, here is how the current Stanley Cup odds look for each team heading into the first round, courtesy of Bovada:
- Colorado Avalanche: +500
- Vegas Golden Knights: +550
- Toronto Maple Leafs: +600
- Tampa Bay Lightning: +750
- Carolina Hurricanes: +800
- Boston Bruins: +1000
- Pittsburgh Penguins: +1200
- Washington Capitals: +1400
- Edmonton Oilers: +1500
- New York Islanders: +1600
- Florida Panthers: +1800
- Minnesota Wild: +1800
- St. Louis Blues: +2000
- Winnipeg Jets: +2800
- Montreal Canadiens: +3000
- Nashville Predators: +3300
