2021 NHL Division Winner Picks for North, Central, East, and West

• The NHL has gone with a new structure for the 2021 season, implementing four divisions and no conferences
• The Winnipeg Jets’ odds to win the North Division sit at +1000
• Damien Cox breaks down the odds and provides his best value bet for each division below

This is no marathon. This is an all-out sprint.

Somebody’s going to get out of the gate fast, and maybe win a division title because of it.

Somebody else is going to be more sluggish when the NHL kicks into gear this week, and won’t have time to recover to make the playoffs.

Not since 2012-13 has the NHL had a season this short, and most teams in the league have never had a schedule restricted to so few opponents. All of a sudden every night in divisional rival night.

Everybody seems attracted to the favorites in the NHL Divisional odds right now, including Toronto (+125, too short), Boston (+250 also too short), Tampa Bay (+125, way too short), and Colorado (+160, we’ll make it a quartet of too short).

But there’s some really good value if you’re looking for good divisional winner bets with the season starting Wednesday. Let’s have a look:

Damien Cox’s North Division Value Pick

All odds taken Jan. 12 at DraftKings

Jets Being Undervalued?

If there’s one team that has reason to be confident of its goaltending going into this weird season, it’s the Winnipeg Jets. Connor Hellebucyk won the Vezina Trophy last season, and for good reasons. He was second in wins, first in shutouts and seventh in save percentage for goalies who played at least 20 games. When you’ve got a guy stopping 92.2 percent of the shots he’s facing, you’ve got a shot every night.

With Patrik Laine unhappy, and Dustin Byfuglien now a faded memory, there are holes on the Jets and the simmering issue of whether the city can keep its best players. But there’s lots to like, particularly as a 10-1 bet to win the division. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and head coach Paul Maurice are a rock-solid, well-established tandem. Laine may want out, and ultimately the Jets may be better without him, but centre Paul Stastny picked Winnipeg as the place he wants to play.

The big question is on the back end where the Jets have lost a lot of talent in the past two years. Yes, they lost to Calgary in four games last summer, but remember both Laine and Mark Scheifele were hurt. With Laine, Scheifele, Nik Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, and Kyle Connor, Winnipeg has lots of offense. Few teams are faster.

Patrik Laine was asked about reportedly requesting a trade out of Winnipeg.#NHLJets pic.twitter.com/K3l64BBRQg

— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) January 4, 2021

Hey, I don’t want to live in Winnipeg either, at least not from October to June. But a quick start and they could zoom past the Maple Leafs and win the division. Hellebuyck is the kind of goalie who can carry them there on his own. He’s the best in a division that includes Carey Price. That tells you something.

Value Bet: Winnipeg Jets (+1000)

Damien Cox’s East Division Value Pick

The Young & Talented Ranger Core

It’s extremely rare that a good team lands the first overall pick. And despite finishing 11th in the division, the New York Rangers were a pretty good team last season. Last February, they won 11 of 15 games. Then COVID arrived, and the music stopped for everybody.

They’ve had to move on from Henrik Lundqvist, which leaves them with promising but unproven goalies for the first time in a very long time. Let’s just say Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev haven’t yet proven themselves to be what Eddie Giacomin and Gilles Villemure once were in the Big Apple.

But Alexis Lafreniere was the best draft-eligible player on the planet, and he’s now a Blueshirt and will contribute right away. Unlike most first overall picks, he’s got lots of good players to skate with, including Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, who did get COVID and might miss the opener.

Tony DeAngelo is proving to be a pain in the ass in more ways than one, the kind of player who just needs to play the game, put up the points, and keep his mouth shut. A little more experience down the middle might make you love the Rangers. But at 8-1 to win the East, they’re a nice bet.

Value Bet: New York Rangers (+800)

Damien Cox’s Central Division Value Pick

Solid Goaltending Trumps All

Tampa, Tampa, Tampa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The recency effect is having an impact on a lot of hockey. Suddenly the Bolts have gone from the team that just can’t quite win to the team that just can’t be beat because they won in the goofy bubble season.

If I’m looking for an attractive bet on the Central Division winner, I’m looking at Columbus at 9-1. Excellent goaltending shared between two netminders. Not a huge Max Domi fan, but I like Jarmo Kekalainen as a GM a helluva lot more than Marc Bergevin (can you believe he’s back?), so I think Columbus will ultimately get the better of that deal. The Jackets can still be plenty ornery without Josh Anderson.

The problem this team had last season is an inability to score. So did Montreal, even with Domi. But his wheels and creativity will add a different wrinkle to the Jackets. Assuming John Tortorella can manage not to totally alienate Pierre-Luc Dubois, Columbus will be a tough out, particularly with the spectacularly talented Seth Jones on the back end.

Value Bet: Columbus Blue Jackets (+900)

Damien Cox’s West Division Longshot Pick

Time for a longshot.

I’m not going to tell you the Los Angeles Kings have finished their rebuild and are ready to contend for another Stanley Cup. Moreover, with the COVID situation in California getting worse by the day, and with San Jose already banished to Arizona, it’s hard to know right now how difficult life is going to get for the Kings and Anaheim Ducks.

But from a hockey point of view, at 25-1 to win the West Division, the fact that the Kings still have Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar on the roster suggests they have as good a chance as any of the league doormats to surprise people. Revitalized efforts from those three efforts could really help the Kings. Maybe Jeff Carter, coming off core surgery, still has one more 30-goal season in him. He was on pace for 24 last season.

The Los Angeles Kings lead the NHL with nine prospects at this year’s World Juniors, including this year’s No. 2 pick Quinton Byfield 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/zE7qCYN7FJ

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 17, 2020

This rebuild seems to be going in the right direction. More speed, including the late December addition of blazing fast Andreas Athanasiou. No more big hockey, relying exclusively on leaning on people. Gabriel Vilardi and Lias Andersson are interesting young centers. Quinton Byfield looks physically mature enough to play in the league.

Really, what the Kings need is another top-five draft pick. But they have enough veterans who undoubtedly found last season agonizing. As a long shot, you could do worse.

Longshot Bet: Los Angeles Kings (+2500)