NHL Metropolitan Division Betting Preview: Stanley Cup Odds, Division Odds, Props, Projections

In this article I’ll outline the NHL Metropolitan Division betting odds, notable roster moves, and detail one best bet for each team, in descending order from most to least likely to win the Stanley Cup.

All odds in this article are courtesy of bet365.

Odds to win Stanley Cup, Conference, Division, to Make Playoffs, O/U Point Total:

Team	Stanley Cup odds	Conference Odds	Division Odds	To Make Playoffs	Regular Season Point Total o/u
Carolina Hurricanes	+750	+350	+120	-1000	106.5
Columbus Blue Jackets	+8000	+4000	+2500	+210	84.5
New Jersey Devils	+1400	+700	+275	-330	99.5
New York Islanders	+10000	+3500	+2500	+260	84.5
New York Rangers	+2500	+1200	+550	-190	95.5
Pittsburgh Penguins	+30000	+15000	+12500	+650	76.5
Philadelphia Flyers	+7500	+4000	+3300	+290	83.5
Washington Capitals	+2800	+1400	+600	-190	96.5

Carolina Hurricanes

Stanley Cup Odds: +750
To Win Conference Odds: +350
To Win Division Odds: +120
To Make the Playoffs Odds: -1000
Regular Season Point Total: 106.5

Key roster additions: Nikolaj Ehlers (LW), K’Andre Miller (D), Mike Reilly (D), Cayden Primeau (G)

Key roster subtractions: Dmitry Orlov (D), Brent Burns (D), Jack Roslovic (RW), Scott Morrow (D), Riley Stillman (D), Spencer Martin (G), Jesper Fast (RW)

Best Bet: Presidents’ Trophy Winner +600 (bet365, Play to +600)

Backing the Hurricanes to win the Presidents’ Trophy made the cut for my second futures piece of the offseason, and I’m standing by it as my best bet. At the time that the previous article was written, the Florida Panthers were priced as the favorites to win the Presidents’ Trophy, which I did not agree with and obviously do not agree with now after it was announced that Aleksander Barkov would miss the regular season.

Though the Hurricanes lost several mainstays from last season’s lineup this summer, their offseason acquisitions, internal promotions, and natural development should counteract those losses.

Nikolaj Ehlers should prove to be a massive get for a team in need of more dynamic scoring and that owns the puck in the majority of most matchups. Ehlers is obviously most known for being an offensive play-driver, but while he’s not overly physical, he’s strong on the defensive side of the puck.

Natural progression from high-quality youngsters such as Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake could also help Carolina offensively, as well as a full season from Taylor Hall, who found his game after being acquired by the Hurricanes last season.

With the acquisitions of K’Andre Miller and Mike Reilly, as well as a potential full-time role for highly touted prospect Alexander Nikishin, the Hurricanes defensive core could also be improved compared to last year, as both Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov were not as effective as they were earlier on in the careers.

Throughout Rod Brind’Amour’s seven-year tenure as head coach of the Hurricanes, they hold a points percentage of .654, and have finished second (twice) and third in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy. We know this team can succeed in the regular season under Brind’Amour, and he’s working with one of his best rosters yet this season.

While this price has dropped compared to earlier in the summer, +600 still seems to be a reasonable number based off of the developments we have seen elsewhere in the league.

New Jersey Devils

Stanley Cup Odds: +1400
To Win Conference Odds: +700
To Win Division Odds: +275
To Make the Playoffs Odds: -330
Regular Season Point Total: 99.5

Key roster additions: Arseni Gritsyuk (LW), Connor Brown (RW) Evgenii Dadonov (RW) Kevin Rooney (C) Luke Glendening (C)

Key roster subtractions: Erik Haula (C) Tomas Tatar (RW) Brian Dumoulin (D) Curtis Lazar (C) Justin Dowling (C) Nathan Bastian (RW) 

Best Bet: Jack Hughes to Score 40 Goals +500 (bet365, Play to +475)

In part due to Hughes’ absence from the lineup, the Devils fell apart down the stretch last season, finishing 42-33-7 after playing to a record of 24-14-3 in the first 41 games of the campaign. Hughes’ absence was particularly significant, as the Devils did not receive much depth scoring, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they let skaters such as Erik Haula and Tomas Tatar walk away.

Jonas Siegenthaler was also quietly fantastic while healthy last season, and his absence from the lineup in the final third of the season was another reason for the team’s regression.

With two elite center ice men in Hughes and Hischier, as well as a healthy defensive core, and a legitimate number-one goaltender in Jacob Markstrom, the Devils should be a safe bet to find their way back to the postseason somewhat comfortably and earn one of the division’s three playoff spots.

From a team perspective, the Devils look to be priced fairly to me, and I agree with oddsmakers pricing their most likely finish as second in the Metropolitan Division.

While the big question for Hughes will be whether or not he can stay healthy, he has been one of the game’s best offensive players when available over the last three seasons, and at age 24, this appears to be a good season to tap into his upside in the betting market.

Bet365 has priced Hughes at -170 to record 80 points and as the 10th favorite to win the Hart Trophy. Those two prices give fair credit to his level of dominance, but a price of +500 for him to score 40 goals does seem to be underrating his goal-scoring ability in specific.

Hughes tallied 43 goals in 78 games in the 2022-23 season before back-to-back 27-goal seasons, playing only 62 games in each of those campaigns. Hughes is obviously a tremendous playmaker, but he has the ability to create high-quality shots on his own and should continue to get plenty of looks playing alongside one of the league’s most dynamic wingers in Jesper Bratt.

Bratt and Hughes were forced to attempt to carry Ondrej Palat, whose level of play fell off quite significantly throughout much of last season. It seems quite logical to think that head coach Sheldon Keefe will separate Palat from Hughes and Bratt more often this season, unless Palat is able to offer somewhat of a bounce-back.

I’m not a believer that Hughes’ 43-goal 2022-23 season was as much of an outlier as the betting market seems to think. At +500, there looks to be value in backing the ultra-talented center to stay healthy and hit that plateau once again this season.

New York Rangers

Stanley Cup Odds: +2500
To Win Conference Odds: +1200
To Win Division Odds: +550
To Make the Playoffs Odds: -190
Regular Season Point Total: 95.5

Key roster additions: Mike Sullivan (Head Coach), Vladislav Gavrikov (D), Taylor Raddysh (RW), Scott Morrow (D), Conor Sheary (LW), Scott Morrow (D)

Key roster subtractions: Peter Laviolette (Head Coach) Chris Kreider (LW), K’Andre Miller (D), Zac Jones (D), Calvin de Haan (D), Arthur Kaliyev (RW)

Best Bet: Igor Shesterkin to Win the William M. Jennings Trophy (Best Goals Against Average Minimum 25 GP) +5000 bet365

After overachieving in winning the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy, the Rangers’ 2024-25 season proved to be a train wreck, leaing to plenty of significant changes. Mike Sullivan is set to take over as head coach, while new number-one center J.T. Miller has been named captain, as the team looks to change the tone.

Miller and the Rangers coined a new “no B.S.” during training camp, and are keen to be a much tougher team to play against this season.

The Rangers were a train wreck defensively last season, which was the driving force between Shesterkin’s career- low .905 save percentage. New York allowed 3.48 xGA/60, which was the fifth-worst mark in the NHL. Shesterkin finished with a +21.6 Goals Saved Above expected rating, and received more criticism than he deserved for attempting to succeed in one of the NHL’s worst environments.

Sullivan will certainly place plenty of focus on attempting to clean up the team’s defensive game, and he does appear to be working with a better roster than Laviolette had last season, though Laviolette did seem to be part of the problem. The Rangers paid up to bring in one of the game’s premier shutdown defenders, Vladislov Gavrikov, in free agency, and also rounded out the top-four in acquiring Carson Soucy.

Chances are that Shesterkin will still be dealing with a worse environment than favorites in the Jennings market such as Connor Hellebuyck and Frederik Andersen, but the Rangers could progress enough defensively to give one of the game’s best goalies a fighting chance.

Shesterkin is priced as the second favorite to win the Vezina at +650, which is not overly surprising. The Jennings is a much different market as obviously some of the better backups on strong defensive teams such as Eric Comrie are live to steal it, but a price of +5000 for one of the game’s best goaltenders on a potentially much improved team seems to be too long of a number to pass up.

Washington Capitals

Stanley Cup Odds: +2800
To Win Conference Odds: +1400
To Win Division Odds: +600
To Make the Playoffs Odds: -190
Regular Season Point Total: 96.5

Key roster additions: Justin Sourdif (F), Declan Chisholm (D)

Key roster subtractions: Andrew Mangiapane (LW), Lars Eller (C)

Best Bet: To Finish Third in Division +450 (bet365, Play to +425)

The Capitals greatly outperformed expectations last season, finishing with 111 points in the regular season and making it into the second round of the postseason. Ovechkin turned back the clock while motivated by his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s All-time leading goalscorer record, while numerous forwards such as Pierre-Luc Dubois, Aliaksei Protas, and Dylan Strome had career seasons at both ends of the ice.

Believing in the Capitals as a potential high-upside team last season paid plenty of dividends to me and my followers, as we hit on the Capitals to win the Metropolitan at 40-1, Spencer Carbery to win head coach of the year at +2500, and Alex Ovechkin to score 40 goals at +850.

While many of the Capitals’ 2024-25 strengths will remain intact this season, even to a Capitals optimist a stepback compared to last season does seem likely, as the vast majority of their key players played to their peak potential last season.

While the Rangers could certainly finish in the division’s top-three (I don’t hate the idea of also betting the Capitals finishing fourth at +500), a price of +450 to back the Capitals finishing exactly third looks to provide solid value. As noted, I’m high on the Hurricanes and Devils to finish as the division’s top-two seeds, but am also high on the Capitals’ chances of still finishing above the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Pittsburgh Penguins.

A rock-solid defensive core featuring John Carlson, Martin Fehervary, Rasmus Sandin, and Jakub Chychrun, as well as a goaltending tandem of Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren keeps the Capitals’ floor high enough that a complete fall-off relative to last year seems unlikely.

The Capitals may lack the kind of truly elite offensive forwards needed to outperform the Hurricanes or Devils, but have a solid base of quality two-way forwards that fall into the very-good tier in Strome, Protas, Dubois, Tom Wilson, and Connor McMichael. Ryan Leonard could also prove to be a noteworthy addition to the top-six in his rookie season.

Philadelphia Flyers

Stanley Cup Odds: +7500
To Win Conference Odds: +4000
To Win Division Odds: +3300
To Make the Playoffs Odds: +290
Regular Season Point Total: 83.5

Key roster additions: Rick Tocchet (Head Coach), Trevor Zegras (C), Dan Vladar (G), Christian Dvorak (C), Dennis Gilbert (D), Noah Juulsen (D)

Key roster subtractions: John Tortorella (Head Coach) Ryan Poehling (C), Jakob Pelletier (RW), Ivan Fedotov (G), Olle Lycksell (G)

Best Bet: Under 83.5 Points -115 (bet365, Play to -120), Division Finishing Position Seventh +320 (bet365, Play to +310)

The Flyers took a step backwards in 2024-25, finishing with just 76 points after a surprisingly competitive season the year previous. For most of last season it no longer felt as though Tortorella was the right coach to continue moving the team in a competitive direction, and GM Daniel Briere made what seems to be a sharp move in bringing in Rick Tocchet as head coach.

Matvei Michkov looked to be worthy of the hype throughout most of his rookie campaign, and should continue to take steps toward being an elite offensive player this season. Still, the Flyers’ offensive core looks unlikely to be all that productive this season.

Prying Trevor Zegras away from Anaheim after some awful campaigns under Greg Cronin could prove to be a savvy move, but it’s still hard to believe that Zegras can be overly effective in a role as the team’s top line center based on his two-way play. Sean Couturier seems to have aged well past his prime, and projects to be the team’s second line center.

Jett Luchanko, Alex Bump, and Christian Dvorak could help the team’s bottom-six relative to last season, but overall their offensive core looks quite weak relative to the rest of the division.

The Flyers received the league’s worst goaltending last season, as Samuel Ersson led all Flyers goaltenders with an .883 save percentage. Dan Vladar projects as the team’s best option at this point, which suggests goaltending will hold it back once again this season.

Philadelphia’s defensive core is much better than what most rebuilding teams can offer, which is one reason that it may have a floor close to what oddsmakers are expecting with a betting total of 83.5 points.

Still, I’m low on the Flyers relative to market and see value in betting them to come in with less than 83.5 points at -115. There also looks to be value in betting the Flyers to finish exactly seventh, as I believe they are overvalued relative to the Islanders and Blue Jackets, but should be able to finish above the Penguins, who appear to be angling to be in the mix for winning the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes.

New York Islanders

Stanley Cup Odds: +10000
To Win Conference Odds: +3500
To Win Division Odds: +2500
To Make the Playoffs Odds: +260
Regular Season Point Total: 84.5

Key roster additions: Matthew Schaefer (D), Jonathan Drouin (LW), David Rittich (G), Maxim Shabanov (RW), Matthew Highmore (RW), Emil Heineman (LW)

Key roster subtractions: Noah Dobson (D), Matt Martin (LW), Scott Perunovich (D) Mike Reilly (D) Hudson Fasching (W)

Best Bet: Maxim Shabanov to Win Calder Trophy +2800, Mathew Barzal to Record 70 Points +190 (bet365, Play to +180)

The Islanders underperformed expectations last season in managing only 82 points, as they dealt with some of the worst injury luck in the league, and received less dominant then expected play in goal from Ilya Sorokin. The organization and its fanbase ultimately lucked into a handsome reward though, as it won the draft lottery, and the right to draft Matthew Schaefer first overall.

The Islanders scored just 2.71 goals per game last season, which ranked 27th in the NHL. That will need to be the team’s largest point of growth if it is to sneak back into the playoffs this season, and it is realistic that the Islanders could be improved offensively relative to last season.

After recording 80 points in 80 games during the 2023-24 season, Barzal chipped in just 20 points last year, while missing the majority of the campaign with injury. At his best, Barzal is the team’s most dynamic offensive skater by a wide margin, and having him healthy and in top form is the team’s most obvious route to offensive improvement.

Barzal may end up lining up alongside Shabanov, who recorded 67 points in 65 games in the KHL last season, as well as 20 points in 21 playoff games.

Kirill Kaprizov won the Calder at age 23 in his first NHL season after putting up big numbers in the KHL, as did Artemi Panarin at age 24. While Shabanov is not considered to be as strong a player as either of those two, backing another KHL star to take advantage of the Calder Trophy’s debatable eligibility rules seems to be an angle worth tapping into at +2800, though obviously Ivan Demidov appears to be somewhat of a prohibitive favorite.

At +190, I see value in backing a bounce-back season from Barzal, which will hopefully be aided by Shabanov carving a role inside the team’s top-six.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Stanley Cup Odds: +8000
To Win Conference Odds: +4000
To Win Division Odds: +2500

To Make the Playoffs Odds: +210
Regular Season Point Total: 84.5

Key roster additions: Charlie Coyle (C), Miles Wood (LW), Isac Lundestrom (C) Brendan Smith (D) Hudson Fasching (RW)

Key roster subtractions: Daniil Tarasov (G), James van Riemsdyk (LW), Jack Johnson (D), Sean Kuraly (C), Justin Danforth (C), Luke Kunin (C), Kevin Labanc (RW)

Best Bet: To Record 90 Points +280 (bet365, Play to +270).

The Columbus Blue Jackets were a lovable overachiever last season, coming up just shy of earning the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot with 89 points. Zach Werenski earned a Norris Trophy nomination, while young forwards such as Kirill Marchenko and Dmitri Voronkov showed tremendous growth, and Sean Monahan honoured his deceased friend, Johnny Gaudreau, with a fantastic season.

Shaky goaltending was the team’s greatest concern, as Daniil Tarasov and Elvis Merzlikins combined for a -12.6 GSAx rating. Surpisingly enough, Jet Greaves proved to be the team’s most competent option, and with Tarasov gone to the Panthers, Greaves does appear to have earned the right to at least the backup role this season.

Relative to the other teams expected to be near the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, I’m highest on the upside of the Blue Jackets. They have numerous high upside young forwards who could offer greater production, a solid trio at center ice with Monahan, Adam Fantilli, and Charlie Coyle, and a reasonable defensive core with Werenski, Dante Fabbri, and Denton Mateychuk.

I’m not sold on the idea that last season was a complete fluke, and at +280, I see some value in betting the Blue Jackets to manage at least one more point than they did a year ago.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Stanley Cup Odds: +30000
To Win Conference Odds: +15000
To Win Division Odds: +12500
To Make the Playoffs Odds: +650
Regular Season Point Total: 76.5

Key roster additions: Dan Muse (Head Coach) Arturs Silovs (G) Anthony Mantha (LW) Connor Clifton (D) Justin Brazeau (RW), Mathew Dumba (D) Parker Wotherspoon (D) Rafael Harvey-Pinard (LW) Robby Fabbri (LW)

Key roster subtractions: Mike Sullivan (Head Coach) Matt Grzelcyk (D) Alex Nedeljkovic (G) Pierre-Olivier Joseph (D), Matt Nieto (LW) Emil Bemstrom (LW)

Best Bet: To Finish 8th In Division +135 (bet365, Play to +125)

The direction of GM Kyle Dubas’ Penguins is crystal clear, as the team is obviously dead set on rebuilding entering this season, and taking a run at drafting Gavin McKenna. Though it’s a sad state of affairs entering what is potentially Evgeni Malkin’s contract year and with Sidney Crosby still playing at a high level, the direction is clear and at this point, as the Penguins will need some very high picks in order to get back to true contention.

Erik Karlsson probably wasn’t as awful as most observers credited last season, and yet the Penguins defensive core was still a train wreck. Kris Letang’s play continued to decline significantly, and was a key reason for the Pens’ struggles. If those two aren’t considerably better, the defence core is a safe bet to remain one of the league’s worst, as the additions of Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton likely won’t help matters.

While the Penguins still have some excellent pieces up front in Crosby, Malkin, and Bryan Rust, there is a significant lack of support outside of that trio. Anthony Mantha could prove to be a useful acquisition, but he’s far from a player who is likely to thrive in a top-six role.

On top of that, any of the Penguins’ veteran signings such as Mantha and Robby Fabbri that do perform effectively will likely be traded as early as possible, while it’s not out of the question that Malkin and/or Crosby will also be moved.

At +135, I see value in backing the Penguins to finish dead last in the division, and would bet it down to +125.