The NHL postseason is upon us. With the Regular Season fully wrapped up and the first fixtures of the NHL Playoffs announced, it’s time to take a look at the best teams in the oddsmakers’ eyes and who we think might get their hands on the Stanley Cup this year.
It’s the Avs that remain favorites in the eyes of all the top-tier bookmakers, but there are a lot of strong teams in the running this year. In what has been a shorter regular season, there have been a lot of evolving teams, who ask a lot of questions as we approach the finals.
While we have only included 3 NHL free picks for this article, there are of course the likes of the Leafs, Knights, Penguins, Capitals, and Hurricanes who are definitely in contention. Nonetheless, let’s take a look at the odds and some of the top teams to clinch the NHL title in 2021.
The favourites the Avalanche to win the Stanley Cup
The Avalanche will face the St Louis Blues in the first game of their playoff season, which is something that will suit Jared Bednar’s team. The Blues have struggled this season and only managed to get into the playoffs after a string of good games in the final weeks.
Mikko Rantanen has led the offensive scoring for the Avs, picking up 30 goals and 34 assists for the season so far. He’s been putting up the points alongside Canadian superstar Nathan MacKinnon and the big Swede Gabriel Landeskog, who have 20 goals each. With Cole and Grubauer at the other end, there is little hope for a team playing like the Blues are this year—expect the Avalanches to cruise into the second round of the postseason.
The Blues, no less any other NHL team, will struggle to contain the Colorado offence. The bookmakers are well aware of this and it’s why they’ve favoured them to clinch the title since the NHL season began.
Tampa Bay Lightning to retain the title
The Pittsburgh Penguins were the last team to win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016/17 and now the Tampa Bay Lightning are the team that could achieve this feat. With the roster they have, it’s certainly possible, though they will face the team that has surprised most oddsmakers in the Central Division this season, the Florida Panthers.
The Lightning has one of the most well-rounded teams in the NHL. Kucherov, Stamkos, and Hedman account for some of the best players in the league. But, it runs deeper. Players like Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde, and Ondrej Palat have been carrying the team this season. With Kucherov returning from injury, they are looking in very good shape.
One thing worth noting is the matchup with the Panthers in the first round of the postseason doesn’t bode well, having lost emphatically in the final series of the regular season. The Panthers took the games 5-1 and 4-0. But, the playoffs are a different animal.
The Panthers will go into the postseason with a great deal of momentum, winning their last 6 games consecutively and going 8-2 in their last ten. But, we’ve seen teams burn out in the regular season before, so let’s see if the Lightning losing their last 3 games will mean anything when Game 1 of the playoffs begins.
Boston Bruins to win for the first time in a decade
Bruins vs Capitals is the fixture. The Bruins have had a hit-and-miss season, but ended up making the playoff places quite comfortably. While the Capitals finished above them in the league, they didn’t have a perfect season either.
Bruins legend Brad Marchand has led the scoring for the Bruins this year, picking up 29 goals and assisting another 40 this year. Alongside Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak, and Ritchie, have been excellent this season, picking up 23, 20, and 15 goals this season, respectively.
The Bruins often excel in the NHL playoffs and we have seen signs of this team being able to produce the kind of results we’ve seen from them in recent years. With the quality on display in other teams this season, this is certainly a long shot. However, anything can happen in the postseason.
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