NFLThe 2021 NHL season is going to present something a bit different this year. Quite close to its January commencement, the league announced the 56-game season and new divisions, getting fans excited for more intense rivalries. Fans and onlookers have described the schedule as a sprint. It emphasizes the need to go big from the start and keep the tempo high throughout.
Even in this sprint format, it’s still early days. The playoffs will not commence until 11 May. Yet, enough has been showcased to reveal what we can expect from the season to come. This includes the influence of the new divisions and the top teams.
Emphasizing Rivalries to Create Tougher Match-ups
Rivalries are long-established in the NHL, with divisional match-ups between potential playoff candidates always bringing some extra bite. This season, however, has divisions set to play within themselves. So those rivalries will have more opportunities to boil over, with shots at revenge likely to be coming around far quicker. The team schedules have taken a more MLB-esque aesthetic this year, with teams facing each other in consecutive games.
In the first week of the 2021 NHL season, six fights took place: one in Scotia North, two in Mass Mutual East, and three in Discover Central – with the Detroit Red Wings involved in all three Central fights. We’ve seen lots of physicality through the early stages of the season, with 18 players on double-digit hits through three-to-four games and numerous blocked shots. The narrow schedule and ever-building rivalries between teams have given experts and fans even more to consider when weighing up winners.
As tough as the NHL is to call each season, and even game-to-game, increasing rivalries will add excitement. Doubtless, wagers on favored teams will follow. This is possibly due to sports betting being more available across the US. With sites like Legal Betting detailing that money line, teaser, point spread, hedge, in-play, and parlay betting are all available. Many fans will also revel in the increased head-to-head data and physicality when calling their bets, particularly with in-play hockey betting, as all fans know how quickly momentum can change after players drop their gloves.
Impressing out of the Blocks
It’s not uncommon for the reigning champions to enter a new season graded as the favorites, but the Tampa Bay Lightning are certainly earning their tag. After winning their second Stanley Cup, the Bolts looked to suffer a setback in the form of star sniper Nikita Kucherov requiring hip surgery. The Russian will miss the whole regular season. Even without him, Tampa Bay has looked like a mighty unit. It has, though, been against weak foes in the early games. Their continued dominance is helped by the return of Steven Stamkos, who missed the playoffs.
There’s plenty of excitement around the new divisional set-up, but perhaps the most interest was directed to Scotia North. Bundling all of Canada’s teams in together was a superb move from the NHL. It fires up the league’s most notoriously passionate fan bases as they exclusively take each other on throughout the season. Entering the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to be the strongest team, and they’ve lived up to the billing. They’ve played hard, always stepping up to score that extra goal through early defensive struggles.
Over in the Honda West, the league’s newest addition – until the Seattle Kraken is released next season – continues to defy expectations. Through their first three games, the Vegas Golden Knights went undefeated. The Golden Knights scored a good 11 goals while only allowing five. However, their triumphs didn’t come without struggles. The team needed to rally and come from behind in the third period of two of their early games. Continuing to show their underdog spirit, the Golden Knights will undoubtedly be a force throughout the season.
Dark Horses Wriggling into the Playoffs
In the NHL, it’s impossible to count out teams who have the potential to make it to the playoffs simply due to how unpredictable the league has regularly proven to be. This season, one of the leading dark horse contenders has to be the Nashville Predators. They boast an incredibly talented Finnish goaltending tandem, a hefty, puck-savvy defense, and what looks to be a revived forwards corps. The Preds struggled for goals last season, but with ten through the first three, they look to be on the right track.
Seen now as more an aging contender that will likely be a late-stage gatekeeper to another contender, the Washington Capitals are still very much in the mix. Boasting many of the stars who surged the team to the 2018 Stanley Cup win, the main question mark sits above the goaltending. The undisputedly talented Ilya Samsonov has looked shaky. If his near-perfect debut is anything to go by, new back-up Vitek Vanecek should provide ample support to take the pressure off of the 23-year-old netminder.
The always exciting NHL looks to be even more high-powered in 2021, with early favorites and dark horses already off the mark.
