The 2021-22 NHL season starts on Tuesday with Tampa Bay Lightning heading into the new season as the back-to-back defending champions.
Fans are welcomed back to arenas and the 82-game regular season returns after a unique format last term.
Tampa Bay defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in last season’s final back in July. It proved to be one of their easier series having only overcome the New York Islanders 4-3 in the semi-finals.
The 2021 Entry Draft took place towards the end of July with the Buffalo Sabres getting the overall number 1 pick once more. They selected defenseman Owen Power out of the Michigan Wolverines. His college teammate Matty Beniers was drafted by the Seattle Kraken as the number 2 overall pick.
During the off-season the New Jersey Devils were one of the most active teams in free agency. The Northeastern American franchise signed a key player in every position. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier, defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Tomas Tatar are three excellent players on paper.
The Arizona Coyotes didn’t do bad either considering they forfeited their first round draft pick. As they are in rebuilding mode they have freed up a lot of cap space and traded for some future draft picks, now holding seven in the first two rounds of next year’s draft. But don’t expect the Coyotes to be competitive this season, as the odds below show.
Heading into the start of the new season, the Colorado Avalanche are the sportsbooks’ favourites with a price of 11/2 to lift the Stanley Cup. They are followed by the defending champions at 7/1 and then the Las Vegas Knights at 15/2. The follow list of 2021-22 NHL Stanley Cup odds are as follows:
