Conner Brown #16 of the New Jersey Devils tries to pass the puck in front of the net, guarded by Dan Vladar #80 of the Philadelphia Flyers Photo credits – Jack.Smart@prohockeynews.com
Granted, some heavyweights are thriving. The Colorado Avalanche were one of the frontrunners in the preseason, and they remain so in November, sliding onto the ice as perennial Cup favorites with a whopping 11 league wins. But elsewhere, the early events of the new season were among the underdogs.
As pucks fell and bodies collided, a series of teams that had been dismissed as afterthoughts plunged into the league’s top tier as bookmakers and pundits alike tried to recalibrate their odds. But do any of these unexpected contenders harbor any real hope of claiming the Stanley Cup? Let’s see.
Devils
The Devils were no one’s favorite dark horse, as evidenced by their +2500 preseason odds with the bookmakers. Fast forward a month and 11 wins, and now the NHL odds providers are pricing them as +1200 contenders. What has changed? Just about everything.
Jack Hughes has burst out of the blocks like a man intent on breaking every franchise record and has already racked up 18 points. Analysts predicted vulnerability, especially in the defense area. Instead, veteran goaltender Jake Allen has proven to be a brick wall, with the Garden State team claiming six wins in eight when he’s been between the pipes, his .914 save percentage the eighth-best in the league, and even keeping last summer’s blockbuster, Jacob Markström, on the sidelines.
But even fairy tales have their skeptics. Depth scoring remains an unfinished chapter, leaving the question whether the bottom six can keep up this early magic in the brutal grind of April. Still, the stats back it up: the Devils aren’t all wishful thinking. If this engine keeps humming and Hughes stays healthy, you’re looking at a team that no one wants to face four times in a playoff series.
Canadians
The Montreal Canadiens’ transformation from rebuilt fodder to the main story is one of hockey’s biggest switcheroos. With a preseason line of +7500 and a projected finish of just 90.5 points, the odds screamed development rather than fate. However, the results are impossible to ignore: a 10-4-2 hit puts them atop the Atlantic and cuts their odds to +4500 to bring the Cup back to the Bell Center for the first time in 33 years.
Cole Caufield is now a sniper in the true sense of the word: fifteen goals in fifteen games, with a sense of inevitability. Nick Suzuki, the metronome, keeps both sides in sync, while Juraj Slafkovsky’s step up has given new hope. The penalty kill, which has a 79% success rate, suffocates opponents. Montreal at home is a force of nature.
Yet their flaws pulse beneath the surface. The team’s 8-0-1 record at home masks a troubling lack of ferocity on the road – a vital flaw for any playoff hopeful. Goaltending, riding the unpredictable Sam Montembeault, does not inspire great confidence. And that blue line, youthful and exuberant, has not yet survived the crucible of playoff-style hockey. Write them off at your own risk, but we still don’t expect the record champions to return to their former glory just yet.
Bruins and penguins
Sometimes pride can light a fire when the hockey world is close to writing your obituary. Boston and Pittsburgh started the campaign with odds of +20,000 – a hockey version of a lottery ticket. Both faced roster overhauls and the weight of age, but neither has gone bust.
Boston, with David Pastrnak’s milestone goals and Jeremy Swayman’s .920 goaltending, has squeezed every last drop from an aging core. Their physical forechecking is among the meanest in the league, with hits coming in waves. But age comes at a price: the depth is limited and the power play (15% conversion) is too blunt to threaten elite teams.
Pittsburgh, governed by the indestructible magic by Sidney Crosby (22 points at age 38), defies both time and expectations. Malkin, Rakell and a rejuvenated supporting cast have restored the offensive verve; the best even-strength score in the league backs this up.
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But despite their good starts, both teams remain priced at +15,000 for a shock Cup upset. As such, they will need everything they can to find their way if they are to undertake an unlikely march next spring. While a play-off berth is within reach, and an upset in one series is hardly unthinkable, the Marathon Cup chase will likely expose their lack of depth, and they will almost certainly fall short. A wild card berth would be considered a success, let alone a championship.
Ducks
The start of Anaheim is the setting for feverish underdog scripts; bookmakers lumped them together with the side issues. Instead, the Ducks are off to an 11-3-1 start, capturing 73% of the available points and moving to a 119.8 point pace. That’s not flirting with, but mocking the 83.5-point projection they ran out of camp.
Much of the magic starts with Leo Carlsson, whose 20 points in his third year were both spark and stardust. Lukas Dostal in goal provides the kind of stability that turns long nights into surprise victories. The discipline is palpable: this is the least penalized team in the league, a testament to both youth and buy-in. And offensively? The return of Trevor Zegras has catapulted their power play to the highest level.
But the fun can have a shelf life. The blue line lacks hardened playoff experience: veterans who can weather nervous moments, strength to fend off forecheck at the highest level. Regression is on the horizon, especially with so much reliance on Dostal’s unsustainably heroic goaltending. Playoff hockey is a different beast, punishing in a way that never compromises the regular season.
Anaheim, for all its flair, may be closer to a wild-card darling than a deep playoff threat. But as their momentum grows, opponents learn to take them very, very seriously.
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