Vegas Golden Knights Heavily Favored at +120 Odds to Win NHL’s Pacific Division

• The 2019-20 NHL season begins Wednesday, October 2nd
• The Vegas Golden Knights are heavy favorites to win the Pacific Division
• Which team might be the better value bet to win the Pacific?

In just two short seasons the Vegas Golden Knights have been to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural campaign and followed that up with yet another playoff berth in year two to find themselves the heavy favorite to win the Pacific Division crown.

Despite being 14 points behind division winner Calgary last season, is Vegas that stacked and an auto bet to win the Pacific, or are there better options out there to lay a wager on?

Heading into the season it appears to be a realistic three or four horse race, but the NHL is very unpredictable.

Odds to Win Pacific Division

*Odds taken 10/01/19.

Should Vegas be Heavily Favored?

Vegas suffered a letdown in their sophomore season, which saw them drop 16 points from their magical first year, but because their division was so weak (all teams missing the playoffs except Calgary and San Jose who finished ahead of the Knights) they were able to make the post-season, suffering a crippling letdown in Game 7 to the Sharks in the first round of the playoffs.

They will have last year’s trade deadline acquisition Mark Stone for a full season, which will provide a huge boon for their offense and it would be a major shock if they didn’t improve upon their 93 point total.

Expecting them to be as dominant as their inaugural season would likely be too tall a task in a division that should see improvement from the likes of Arizona, Vancouver and Edmonton.

Can Calgary Build on Last Season’s Division Crown?

With apologies to the Calgary Flames, who will most definitely be a playoff team and boast a ton of talented young goal scorers, their potential shakiness between the pipes might be a season-long storyline, despite bringing in former Oilers starter Cam Talbot.

For that reason, they won’t be sneaking up on people like last year when they had a staggering 23 point improvement from 2017-18.

Going into a season with a crease duo of Talbot and David Rittich is tenuous at best, as Talbot finished third worst amongst qualified goaltenders in both save percentage and goals against average.

Rittich was better, but was still 18th in GAA and 28th in save percentage. Can the Flames outscore their question marks in net another season? They’re too talented to capsize but they likely won’t win the Pacific again.

2018-19 Final Pacific Division Standings

Team That Could Surprise

If you want to pick a long shot to win the division look no further than the Vancouver Canucks, who are sixth on the board at +1200 odds.

They boast an enviable list of young impressive forwards like former first round picks in Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat.

Pacific Peeks: There’s plenty of young talent in Vancouver, but the Canucks still have a battle ahead to make the postseason https://t.co/6yxIBFEhpG

— Fear the Fin (@fearthefin) September 21, 2019

They also have 2018 seventh overall pick and star in the making Quinn Hughes on the blueline plus 2014 second round goaltender Thatcher Demko to pair with incumbent Jacob Markstrom for a solid tandem. The team added Tyler Myers to solidify the back end and traded for forward J.T. Miller from Tampa Bay for some more scoring punch.

They might still be a year or two away from serious contention, but teams with young talent took huge jumps earlier than expected in recent years like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Flames.

Sharks are the Team to Beat

San Jose made it all the way to the Western Conference Final before bowing out to the Blues, and have a roster chalk full of studs like leading point getting among blueliners in Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier.

The Sharks have only finished worse than third in the Pacific just once in the last 15 campaigns, so they’ll be in the mix yet again. Don’t be surprised if they’re the one taking the division crown come the end of the season to set themselves up for that long overdue Stanley Cup title.

Pick: Sharks to win Pacific Division (+450)