Season Consensus Predictions

VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert

9 minute read

The 2021 NHL season begins this week and we asked our stable of handicappers to provide their fearless predictions on who will meet in the Stanley Cup Final, plus they offered up their division winner opinions.

The league realigned for this season with four new divisions, East, North, Central, and West with no conferences. Teams will only play other squads within their division for a 56-game schedule and the top four clubs in each division qualify for the playoffs.

The first two rounds of the playoffs will see teams within their divisions playing each other until they get down to one. The four remaining teams from each division will be reseeded by regular season point totals to meet in the Stanley Cup Semifinal.

The two teams to survive that round wil meet for the Stanley Cup Final, which could be two teams that wouldn't normally meet for the crown in a season with normal alignment.

Here are the new division breakdowns for this season:

East Division

• Boston Bruins
• Buffalo Sabres
• New Jersey Devils
• New York Islanders
• New York Rangers
• Philadelphia Flyers
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• Washington Capitals

North Division

• Calgary Flames
• Edmonton Oilers
• Montreal Canadiens
• Ottawa Senators
• Toronto Maple Leafs
• Vancouver Canucks
• Winnipeg Jets

Central Division

• Carolina Hurricanes
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Columbus Blue Jackets
• Dallas Stars
• Detroit Red Wings
• Florida Panthers
• Nashville Predators
• Tampa Bay Lightning

West Division

• Anaheim Ducks
• Arizona Coyotes
• Colorado Avalanche
• Los Angeles Kings
• Minnesota Wild
• St. Louis Blues
• San Jose Sharks
• Vegas Golden Knights

Be sure to check out their daily pro hockey winners all season long on VegasInsider.com!

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