2018 NHL Eastern Conference Odds

Earlier this week, we put out a list of updated odds to win the Stanley Cup for each of the 31 franchises in the National Hockey League. The Eastern Conference has a lot of exciting teams, and the emergence of Washington over Pittsburgh showed what could be a seismic shift in the conference’s fortunes. Boston is emerging — but they still don’t play consistent defense. Toronto is also on the rise, but they may still be too young to push deep into the postseason, a criticism that could apply to Philadelphia as well. And what about Pittsburgh? Is their window starting to close? Take a look at the odds to win the NHL Eastern Conference  for each squad to hoist the Stanley Cup next June, along with some of our comments about some of the contenders.

2018 NHL Eastern Conference Odds

“I think what we did last year, to have the same team coming in this season, I’m just happy to have the opportunity to keep playing and be on a team like this and have a chance to win.”#BoltsCamp | Girardi’s Journal: https://t.co/u3GU0YMv6B

— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 21, 2018

Latest 2018 NHL Eastern Conference

• Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning                                                         +750
• Washington Capitals                                                                                                            +1100
• Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins                                                                     +1200
• Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets                                                        +3000
• New Jersey Devils                                                                                                    +4000
• Florida Panthers                                                                                                       +5000
• Montreal Canadiens                                                                                                 +7500
• New York Rangers                                                                                                    +8500
• Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators   +10000
• Detroit Red Wings                                                                                                    +20000

One of the more shocking developments in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs was the back-to-back shutouts that Tampa Bay suffered against Washington. The Lightning have one of the more dynamic offenses in hockey, with four lines that can all score, and their defense is ironclad — with Andrei Vasilevski behind them in net. Barring a rash of injuries, I expect to see them around late in the postseason, if not hoisting the Cup.

Will Stanley Cup hangover affect Washington?

They didn’t bring in much in the offseason, but they kept their big free agents, such as Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetzov and John Carlson. But will the squad be hungry enough after winning the whole thing a year ago? The NHL season is a grind, and repeating might be tougher in hockey than in any of the other major pro sports. A young Toronto squad just got a lot better with the signing of John Tavares, and alongside Auston Matthews, who enters his third full season in the NHL, will give the Maple Leafs an offense that can hang with anyone else in the league. Can the defense provide the sort of cover that the aggressive Leaf scheme needs? Boston went up 2-0 on the Tampa Lightning in the conference semifinals last year, but then got swept the rest of the way. Their top line — David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron — can skate with any line in the league, but the key comes on the back end, as the Bruins have a bad habit of giving up back-breaking goals at just the wrong time. Pittsburgh was finally stopped in the postseason, as it looked like they might get three Stanley Cups in a row. They still have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, so they’re still a threat. However, they need to get better answers from their defense and goaltending in order to find themselves contending at the end. The other team in Pennsylvania is on the rise, as Philadelphia inked James van Riemsdyk to a deal that gives them a primo winger. They fell out of the playoffs in the first round last year, but their core already had Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Nolan Patrick. They should return to the playoffs and could get a few rounds further. Only three teams have more wins over the last two seasons than Columbus. However, they have only won three playoff games in those two seasons combined — and they haven’t made it out of the first round. Artemi Panarin returns for the last year of his contract, and Columbus will play their grinding style that makes opponents pay for mistakes. Florida finished just one point out of the postseason last year, as the Devils took the second wild card. The Panthers had a terrific second half of the season but couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole they made in the first half. Bringing in winger Mike Hoffman should give the Panthers more offensive depth, but can their defense keep them in games?