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NHL Season Recap and 2022 Early Favorites

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NHL Season Recap and 2022 Early Favorites

Nathan MacKinnon (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

The 2021 NHL season is done, and the Tampa Bay Lightning has another inscription on the Stanley Cup.

It’s been an excellent year for the Western Florida town. They got Super Bowl rings on the way, the Cup calls the bay home for another year, and the TB Rays are one of the best teams in the MLB, currently battling the Boston Red Sox for the top spot in the AL East.

But it wasn’t a bad year for Montreal either. People have short memories, and many don’t realize that the Habs haven’t been back to the Stanley Cup Finals since they won it back in 1993. In fact, before this deep playoff run, the Montreal Canadiens missed the playoffs entirely in three of the previous five seasons. In the other two seasons of that stretch, the Habs were ousted in the first round.

So, this season was significant for Montreal. The Canadiens broke a 28-year NHL Finals slump. It’s the definition of a Cinderella season.

The Race to the Cup: Super Fast NHL Recap

The season format was a little wonky this year. For travel and COVID, the divisions were mixed up. Instead of the traditional Eastern and Western Conference made up of the Metro and Atlantic for the East, and the Pacific and Central making up the Pacific, we had the North, Central, East, and West divisions.

The Central Division was loaded this year. In fact, the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t win their division, heck, they didn’t even come in second. They accrued the third most points. But their talent on both sides of the puck pushed them through the postseason.

The West was the toughest division, with the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights both finishing with 82 points and the Minnesota Wild filling out the 3rd spot with 75 points. Similarly, the East was close. Both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Nationals ended the regular season with 77 points. The Boston Bruins squeaked in with 73 points. Unfortunately, the North took the cake as the worst division in either conference.

And honestly, the Habs were lucky that the system was realigned how it currently is because they made it to the Finals through a wildcard berth based on just 59 points—the lowest points amount of any 4th-place team in the NHL. Elsewhere in the North, the Maple Leafs ended with 77 points, the Edmonton Oilers with 72, and the Winnipeg Jets with 63.

Still, the Habs beat the Maple Leafs in Round 1, then the Jets in Round 2, and the Golden Knights in the semi-final for their chance at their first Finals entrance in 28 years. And from there, we all know what happened.

Which NHL Teams are Favored in 2022

Here is a list of the top ten teams favored next season per top Pennsylvania betting sites:

As you can see, the Montreal Canadiens made the cut as one of the top ten teams favored to win the Stanley Cup next year. But. The odds on favorites are the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights. They have the shortest odds at +500 (5 to 1) and +600 (6 to 1), respectively.

Tampa Bay is third on the list with odds at 7 to 1, but can they really three-peat? With the NY Rangers’ longshot odds of +2800, I think they are worth a few bucks. They took the TB Lightning down to the wire in the realigned Eastern Conference Finals this year. They have a loaded roster—one that didn’t perform as well as it should have in 2021—that now has some deep playoff experience playing together. Then, there is the fact that they will get back Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin. It also looks like they might land Jack Eichel. If this happens, they could very well end up the team to beat in 2022.

As for the Habs, they’ll have to play better in 2021-2022. Why? Because 59 points would not have been enough in any of the other divisions. And it’s looking like the league will go back to its former alignment—as long as the Canadian government lightens up on the travel restrictions.

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