NHL Pick: New York Rangers Metropolitan Division Winners (+380) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
Heading into the 2024 season, the Metropolitan Division saw the Pittsburgh Penguins miss out on the playoffs last season for the first time in over 15 years. Will their fortunes change this time around?
2018 was the last time a team from this division hosted the Stanley Cup, leaving the Metro Division the award of having now gone the longest without producing a Stanley Cup winner. Will this be the year they break that duck?
New York Rangers (+380)
It’s pretty tight between the top three teams in the betting market, but we believe the best value lies with the New York Rangers to lift the Metropolitan Division at +380 NHL betting odds.
The Rangers got rid of some dead wood during the off-season with both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane on their way after a short and unsuccessful stint. They also fired coach Gerard Gallant following the team’s first-round exit in the playoffs last season, having hired ex-Washington Capitals coach Peter Laviolette.
New York does have one of the most formidable rosters within the NHL and one of the best goaltenders in Igor Shesterkin (who had a down season last year). Additions include Nick Bonino and Blake Wheeler amongst others.
Overall, this Rangers team is filled with strong players, they arguably have a solid 11/12 players who are playing close to their peak within their roster, whereas most teams usually have between 6-10.
Their competition will be fierce between the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes for top spot within the division, but we believe their odds to be slightly too high at +380 and they certainly have the roster to do so once they stay healthy and consistent.
The Rangers finished 2nd and 3rd within the previous two season, it’s time for them to make the final leap into top spot.
2022/23 Points Total: 107
2023/24 Points Prediction: 113
New Jersey Devils (+220)
No matter what happens come the end of the season, the New Jersey Devils will be finishing within the top three. That we can almost say with certainty, because if you thought the Rangers roster was good, this one might be slightly better.
The NJ Devils finished one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes last season in the Metropolitan Division and were eventually knocked out by the Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs.
The Devils boast one of the most dangerous forward lineups in the NHL with the likes of Timo Meier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Tyler Toffoli, Erik Haula and Ondrej Palat all in the lineup. It’s easy to see why teams should be scared of them, and that’s not including their solid defense and goaltending.
After the Rangers, this team is our second favorite to win the division and they also represent some value at +220 odds.
This team isn’t even at its peak yet, and if they stick together there could potentially be a Stanley Cup finals appearance, watch this space.
2022/23 Points Total: 112
2023/24 Points Prediction: 111
Carolina Hurricanes (+180)
The fact we have Carolina ranked 3rd yet they are the division favorites means little to us. While we do predict one of the three favorites will win this Metro Division, as we stated, we just believe right now the NY Rangers and NJ Devils represent better value than the Carolina Hurricanes.
This is pretty much the same Carolina team that finished top of the division last season, at the very least it’s the same core. The Hurricanes have one of the most stacked defenses in the league with Brent Burns, Brett Pesce, Tony DeAngelo, Jaccob Slavin, and latest edition Dmitry Orlov all within their lineup.
Both Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta will share goaltending duties. They are a solid duo but not the strongest pair within the division and both are 33 and 34 years old respectively, but they should be solid throughout the regular season given the team’s style of play and defensive core.
For us, the Hurricanes can threaten the Devils and Rangers for the top spot within the division, we just believe both those other teams are on par or slightly better than the Hurricanes after some off-season acquisitions.
2022/23 Points Total: 113
2023/24 Points Prediction: 107
Pittsburgh Penguins (+650)
There’s a big change going down in Pittsburgh as a new era begins under former Toronto Maple Leaf general manager Kyle Dubas.
The GM’s arrival didn’t take long to spark some moves, with 9 players imported to the roster as well as 9 players having been shipped elsewhere. The biggest needle mover for the Penguins this off-season has been the arrival of former San Jose Shark Erik Karlsson as well as wingers Reilly Smith and Matt Nieto.
The Penguins are without a doubt a better team than last season, but they’re nowhere as strong as their rivals we have predicted to finish above them. But who knows, some luck coming their way could see a 3rd placed finish, though overall we are predicting the Penguins will end up in 4th position within the Metro Division.
The only major concern right now is Jake Guntzel, who is out of action until mid-November and is a pending free agent.
A playoff appearance and an early first or second-round exit is likely on the cards for the franchise this season, but watch out as this team looks to be improving.
2022/23 Points Total: 91
2023/24 Points Prediction: 99
New York Islanders (+1500)
The New York Islanders lack two things, depth and an out-and-out scorer within the team. Yes, they might have the best goaltender in the league (or one of the best at the very least for argument’s sake) in Ilya Sorokin, but out on the ice, there’s nobody to grab the game by the scruff and go win them a game.
Can Bo Horvat step up to the plate and earn his number one center badge? It’s not that Horvat isn’t good, it’s just he will have to be better than his par to bring this time into a top-four finish within this division.
There has been a lot of criticism aimed at general manager Lou Lamoriello for sticking with the old core group of players such as Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, Matt Martin, and Casey Cizikas. Ideally, these players needed to be shifted to get the ball rolling on a new era, but it seems the final remains of the previous era remain.
The Islanders are a low-scoring, low-conceding team. There’s not many of them left in the NHL these days and that’s one of their biggest downfalls right now as Sorokin can’t be leaned on to win most games night in and out.
2022/23 Points Total: 93
2023/24 Points Prediction: 90
Washington Capitals (+2900)
It was a disappointing season last year for the Washington Capitals as they failed to make the post-season for the first time since 2014 and only the second time since 2007.
The Capitals made few additions to the roster, bringing in just three players along with new coach Spencer Carbery. Five players departed during the off-season and they daringly gave Thomas Wilson a contract extension, which raised a few eyebrows.
The Washington Capitals are a slight improvement on last year. Once they can stay healthy, they should pose a threat to teams most nights, but overall we can’t see them finishing anywhere near top of this division.
Evgeny Kuznetsov is one of their better players and he has requested a trade, so that still has to play out.
It’s time for a full rebuild in Washington as the team who lifted the Stanley Cup in 2018 is now 5/6 years older, and given the fact that they have gone out in the first round for 4 consecutive years followed by no playoffs at all last year, it seems this team’s heyday is over.
2022/23 Points Total: 80
2023/24 Points Prediction: 84
Columbus Blue Jackets (+18000)
A few people seem to be high on the Columbus Blue Jackets springing a surprise this season, but when we say surprise we mean a 4th to 6th place finish, which isn’t exactly 1st to 3rd. Nevertheless, we do see an improvement from 2022/23, where they only finished the season with a very subpar 59 points.
It’s no surprise in the hockey realms that their new coach Mike Babcock has used outdated tactics and methods when it comes to managing a hockey team. Personally, we fail to see why he has been given another chance with another team following controversy after controversy.
We hate to make this all about the coach but for us, the team isn’t anything special and when you have a mediocre team who are not used to winning combined with a coach known to upset a lot of players. We can’t see anything but overall failure for the Blue Jackets this season, so we expect them to finish in 7th or 8th position.
2022/23 Points Total: 59
2023/24 Points Prediction: 73
Philadelphia Flyers (+13000)
Philadelphia is in rebuild mode. With a top draft prospect in Matvei Michkov, they have something to build towards (although he won’t be eligible to play for a few seasons).
Daniel Briere is the new GM and hasn’t wasted any time getting this team into rebuild mode. The Flyers let go of Kevin Hayes, Tony DeAngelo and James Van Riemsdyk, just to name a few.
The Flyers are a worse team this year than they were last year, so we expect them to finish with fewer points than last season as we predict them to end with less than 70 points.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Flyers fans as better days are ahead for this franchise. The only way is up considering how long they have been at the bottom; it’s been 3 years since they last made the post-season and 13 years since they last made it to a Stanley Cup final.
2022/23 Points Total: 75
2023/24 Points Prediction: 67
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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