In less than a month, hockey’s regular season will kick off, and it’ll soon become a daily practice for diehard fans to check the NHL standings each day.
With games set to begin on October 12, the NHL season will soon be returning to its regular 82-game schedule after a shortened 2020-21 56-game season.
There’s a new divisional alignment, with the introduction of the Seattle Kraken to the Pacific Division pushing the Arizona Coyotes to the Central.
SportsBetting.ag recently released their season over/unders for the NHL teams and their point totals in the final standings.
Here’s how the 16 out of the 32 playoff teams are set to shake out:
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
- Tampa Bay Lightning (107.5)
- Toronto Maple Leafs (105.5)
- Boston Bruins (103.5)
- Florida Panthers (102.5)
Metropolitan Division
- New York Islanders (98.5)
- Carolina Hurricanes (97.5)
- Pittsburgh Penguins (97.5)
- Washington Capitals (95.5)
Non-playoff teams:
New York Rangers (95.5)
Philadelphia Flyers (94.5)
Montreal Canadiens (90.5)
New Jersey Devils (89.5)
Detroit Red Wings (77.5)
Columbus Blue Jackets (76.5)
Ottawa Senators (73.5)
Buffalo Sabres (65.5)
Western Conference
Central Division
- Colorado Avalanche (110.5)
- Minnesota Wild (97.5)
- Dallas Stars (95.5)
WC1 St Louis Blues (94.5)
WC2 Winnipeg Jets (92.5)
Pacific Division
- Vegas Golden Knights (106.5)
- Edmonton Oilers (97.5)
- Calgary Flames (90.5)
Non-playoff teams
Chicago Blackhawks (91.5)
Seattle Kraken (90.5)
Vancouver Canucks (90.5)
Los Angeles Kings (85.5)
Nashville Predators (84.5)
Anaheim Ducks (70.5)
San Jose Sharks (81.5)
Arizona Coyotes (67.5)
Note: ties were broken based on last year’s points totals.
A few points of interest: the Pacific Division playoff race is set to be one of the NHL’s most interesting, even if oddsmakers think it’ll take the lowest bar of entry to crack that third playoff spot.
Oddsmakers think that Vancouver, Calgary, and Seattle are set to be fighting it out for a spot in the NHL postseason, with all three projected for an over/under of 90.5 points.
Again, the Atlantic Division looks like it’s the NHL’s toughest, with defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning favoured to finish with the league’s second-best record behind the Colorado Avalanche. But three other teams in the division: Toronto, Boston, and Florida, are projected at over/unders north of 100 points.
And yes, Toronto and Boston are projected to face each other in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in five seasons. Meanwhile, 2021 Stanley Cup finalist Montreal is currently being pegged to miss the playoffs.
Just four points separate first from sixth place in the Metropolitan Division, notoriously one of the NHL’s tightest.
It seems like oddsmakers think four of Canada’s NHL teams will make the playoffs: Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver or Calgary.
Lastly, the Western Conference as a whole seems like it’s on a bit of a downswing, as just two of its 16 teams are projected with over/unders over 100.
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