Betting odds revealed for the upcoming season; How do the 7 Canadian teams stack up?

On the eve of the start of the 2021-22 season, it's easy to pinpoint which teams are expected to once again take up mantle atop the NHL standings and, conversely, those who stand a pretty decent chance of being in the basement this season.

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is willing to put money against teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights. Another team that is certainly worth keeping an eye on is the Boston Bruins, after the B's were able to retain Taylor Hall and went out and signed forwards Nick Foligno and Erik Haula, goaltender Linus Ullmark and defensemen Mike Reilly and Derek Forbort.

On Monday, OddsShark dot com released the betting odds for who the sportsbooks view as the odds-on-favourite to win the Stanley Cup this season.

Despite plenty of competition near the top, the Colorado Avalanche will enter this season as the betting favourites at +450, but where do the Canadian teams sit? And, of those teams, who are the current betting favourites to bring Lord Stanley home to the great white North?


Well, spoiler alert: it's not Ottawa at +8000 or Vancouver at +5500. Calgary and Winnipeg don't fare much better at +4000 apiece, and despite a run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, the Montreal Canadiens did not make the top two at +2800.

While the Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers may seem like a pretty good bet to come out of Canada as the team to beat, especially after adding 3-time Stanley Cup Champion Duncan Keith to their blueline and bolstering the forward group with the additions of Warren Foegele and former Toronto Maple Leaf Zach Hyman, the top dogs in Canada, according to the bookies, are the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Oilers are +2200 dogs, according to Odds Shark, while the Leafs come in to this season at +1100 odds after going 5-1 in the preseason.

The Leafs will certainly have their work cut out for them if they hope to have even a snowball's chance, as an ultra-competitive Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference guarantees them nothing in terms of a playoff spot.

Can the goaltending tandem of Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek hold up for the Leafs this season? Can Michael Bunting or Nick Ritchie live up to what the team lost in workhorse Zach Hyman? Can Auston Matthews replicate his torrid scoring pace that earned him the Rocket Richard Trophy last season? And, most importantly, can the team get over the hump and snap a lengthy playoff losing skid and go on a run for the first time since before the 2004-05 lockout?

These are just a few of the questions that need answers before the Leafs could be considered legitimate contenders.