2024-25 NHL Central Division Odds and Predictions

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What a difference a year makes. Last year, it was all Dallas in the NHL Central Division. The Stars won it and finished second in the league’s President’s Cup standings with 113 points. Dallas entered the 2024-25 NHL season as the presumptive favorite to repeat as division champs. The roster stayed about the same and the division didn’t change all that much.

Winnipeg would have something to say about that. The Jets finished second in the division race last year and advanced to the postseason for the second consecutive year. But, like the 2022-23 playoffs, Winnipeg failed to advance past the first round. The Jets were eliminated by Colorado in the first round.

The Avalanche are among the favorites in the Central Division once again. The Avs are also among the favorites in the Western Conference race. You can read more about that on the Scores & Stats NHL Conference blog. The conference race will feature half the Central Division as the Minnesota Wild are also off to a great start in 2024-25. Through their first 47 games, the Wild were second in the division with 28 wins and 60 points.

The Central Division hasn’t had a team advance to the Stanley Cup Finals since Colorado won the Cup in 2021-22. Over the last decade, only four Central Division teams have advanced to play for a Stanley Cup. Along with the Avalanche, the St. Louis Blues were a winner in 2019. Dallas and Nashville both lost in their Stanley Cup Final.

• Colorado 2021-22
• Dallas 2019-20
• St. Louis 2018-19
• Nashville 2016-17

Can the Central Division get a team to make a deep playoff run and get into the Stanley Cup Finals? Heading into February, the Jets have the most points (65 through 48 games) in the Western Conference and they are second in the President’s Cup race to Washington. Along with the Jets, the Stars, Wild, and Avalanche all have odds better than +500 to win the Central Division. If the season ended on Jan. 20, all four of those teams would make the postseason. Let’s see how our NHL experts see the 2024-25 NHL Central Division playing out.

2024-25 NHL Central Division Odds

Check out the latest NHL odds for the Central Division.

NHL Central Division Teams

Let’s take a closer look at the following NHL Teams competing in the Central Division:

Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have been making waves in the NHL this season, demonstrating both determination and consistency on the ice. With a balanced roster of seasoned veterans and rising young talent, the team has ripped off 29 wins in its first 46 games. Unfortunately, the rest of the Central Division is killing it as well and the Stars were sitting in third place behind Winnipeg and Minnesota nearing the end of January.

The offense is led by Matt Duchene, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz. Duchene leads the Stars in scoring with 18 goals and 45 points in 47 games. Robertson has 42 points and Hintz, despite missing a few games in January, leads Dallas with 19 goals through his first 43 games.

Where Dallas really shines though is on defense. The Stars have benefited from the leadership of Miro Heiskanen, whose puck-moving abilities provide stability on the blue line. Goaltending has also been a significant factor in the team’s success, with Jake Oettinger solidifying himself as one of the league’s top netminders. His 2.26 GAA and .914 save percentage rank him in the top 10 in both categories. More importantly, Oettinger has 23 wins which ranks second in the NHL.

If you locked in Dallas early in the season at +190 to win the division, it’s still a solid bet and it’s one you can still get. The Stars are only six points out of the division lead. Dallas has played Winnipeg and Minnesota, the top two teams in the division, twice each. They have split with both teams and have two more games against each team remaining in the regular season.

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche have continued to demonstrate why they are one of the premier teams in the NHL. After capturing the Stanley Cup in 2022, the Avalanche have maintained their high standard of performance with a combination of elite talent, depth, and strong coaching. Led by superstar Nathan MacKinnon, the team’s offense remains explosive.

The Avs are fifth in the NHL in scoring as we head to the end of January. MacKinnon’s dynamic playmaking is complemented by Mikko Rantanen’s scoring touch and Cale Makar’s abilities from the blue line. MacKinnon leads the team with 74 points, which also leads the NHL. Rantanen has a team-high 25 goals along with 63 points. Makar has scored 15 goals and has 52 points, making him the highest-scoring defenseman in the NHL. MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Makar all rank among the NHL’s top 15 scorers.

If there’s an area where Colorado lacks it’s on defense. The Avs give up 3.10 goals per game, a number that ranks 19th in the league. Colorado has yet to determine which goaltender is going to take them to the next level. Alexandar Georgiev has manned the net for the most games, but he is just 8-7 with a 3.38 GAA. That won’t cut it if the Avs are trying to win another Stanley Cup. Mackenzie Blackwood has started 14 games and has the best numbers for the Avalanche. Blackwood is 9-4-1 with a 1.97 GAA and .928 save percentage.

Colorado’s offense has been well respected for the last several seasons. For the last two seasons, the Avs have gone without another scoring weapon, Gabriel Landeskog. The winger has missed each of the last two seasons. He is expected to return at some point this season. When he does, look out. Colorado’s already strong offense will get even stronger.

The Avs are another Central Division contender that is within striking distance of the first-place Jets. After 48 games, Colorado was just eight points out of first place. At +220, a wager on the Avs has potential. Colorado won the division in three straight seasons – 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 – before finishing third last year.

Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators have had a season filled with ups and downs. Unfortunately, it’s been more downs for the Predators so far this season. Nashville head coach Andrew Brunette is at the top of the Next NHL Coach to Be Fired board. Brunette is given +200 odds to get the axe next. Two head coaches from the Central Division have already been fired. We’ll get to those momentarily.

The Predators still have Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi and, in the offseason, Nashville added even more power with former Vegas F Jonathan Marchessault and former Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos. Both were 40-goal scorers last season. Marchessault has scored at least 22 goals in seven of his last eight NHL seasons. Stamkos has nine NHL seasons with at least 30 goals. He scored 40, 34, and 42 in the past three seasons.

Unfortunately, while Forsberg (45), Marchessault (38), Josi (34), and Stamkos (31) are the Predators top four scorers, it hasn’t been enough. Nashville ranks just 28th in scoring, averaging just 2.63 goals per game. The defense has been good enough and the special teams – power play and penalty kill – are solid. The Predators are actually sixth in killing penalties this season.

The Predators just can’t seem to string together goals at the right time and pick up wins. After making the playoffs last season, Nashville began this season with five straight losses. They had an eight-game losing streak from Nov. 25 to Dec. 10 and the Predators have five separate streaks of three losses or more.

The early season optimism – odds of +333 to win the division – have evaporated. Like the other Central Division bottom feeders, the Predators are now given the ultra-longshot odds of +25000 to win the Central. Nashville fans will remain optimistic, but it’s not happening this year.

Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets have had a promising start to the 2024-25 NHL campaign. The Jets have led the Central Division for most of the season with a balanced mix of veteran leadership and young talent. On the offensive side, the Jets have proven to be a consistent scoring threat. Skaters like Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele lead the offense. Connor, in particular, has been a dominant presence on the ice. He has 26 goals and 60 points through his first 48 games. That ranks him among the top ten scorers in the NHL.

Scheifele has a team-high 27 goals and his 54 points also rank among the ten best in the NHL so far this season. These two combined with Gabriel Vilardi (41P), Josh Morrissey (40P), and Nikolaj Ehlers (40P) make the Winnipeg offense one of the most difficult to defend.

What separates the 2024-25 Jets from previous editions is the noticeable improvement on defense. Morrissey is a former Norris Trophy winner. The Norris Trophy, of course, goes to the NHL’s best defenseman each season. The other key to the Jets success is the play of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. He is the best goalie in the NHL.

Hellebuyck leads the NHL in just about every goaltending category. He’s first in goals against average at 2.02. He’s also first in save percentage at .927 which is why he also leads the NHL with 29 wins. That comes as no surprise. Winnipeg opened the season with eight straight wins. After a 6-4 loss to Toronto, the first-place team in the Atlantic Division, the Jets ripped off another seven-game win streak.

The Jets have cooled off after the hot start but still have the most wins and points in the Western Conference. They do need to improve their penalty killing unit which ranks 14th overall (79.7%). The power play unit ranks first in the NHL. The Jets are the only NHL team converting on more than 30 percent (31.9%) of their power play opportunities. If you locked in the Jets early at +600, kudos to you. You can still get them at plus-money (+190) right now. That number is only going to get shorter as the season wears on.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild did not qualify for the postseason last year. They had made the playoffs in the previous four seasons, but the Wild haven’t seen the second round of the postseason since the 2014-15 season. Minnesota has reason for optimism in 2024-25. They’ve got veterans like Mats Zuccarello and captain Jared Spurgeon to provide leadership and experience. They also have a nice group of young stars such as Kirill Kaprizov that bring some energy to the Wild.

Kaprizov leads the team in both goals (23) and points (50). Zuccarello has 11 goals and 30 points and Marco Rossi (40) and Matt Boldy (41) are Minnesota’s other double-digit goal scorers and 40-plus point producers. The Wild have been surprisingly successful with their ability to forecheck and make life difficult for opponents in the neutral zone. At some point, though, Minnesota is going to need more production out of its bottom-six forwards.

Defensively, the Wild have shown some resilience but they tend to struggle at times. The goalie play hasn’t been outstanding, but it has been good enough to keep Minnesota near the top of the Central Division standings. Filip Gustavsson and Marc-André Fleury share duties in the net. Gustavsson is 18-10-3 with a 2.63 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Fleury has been great with a 10-4-1 record, 2.61 GAA, and .909 save percentage.

Barring a collapse, the Wild should definitely make the postseason. Their odds to win the division have shortened to +350. Minnesota has been in second place in the division for most of the season. They do not play Winnipeg again but do have two games apiece against Dallas and Colorado. They also cross over and play games against some of the top teams in the East, including Toronto, Washington, and New Jersey twice.

St. Louis Blues

Since the Blues won a Stanley Cup in 2018-19, the franchise has slowly taken a dive. They didn’t make it past the second round of the playoffs in the first three seasons after winning the Cup. Then, they didn’t even qualify for the postseason in each of the last two years. Head coach Drew Bannister went 30-19-5 after taking over last season. But, after starting the 2024-25 season just 9-12-1, Bannister was fired.

Bannister was replaced by Jim Montgomery (fired by the Bruins) who had previously served as an assistant coach with the Blues. That really hasn’t done much for St. Louis as they continue to hover around .500. Making the postseason is probably not in the cards and the books agree. After starting the season as a much more optimistic +1600 longshot, the Blues odds to win the division are now +50000.

Offensively, the Blues have leaned on their top scorers, Jordan Kyrou (42), Dylan Holloway (37)  and Robert Thomas (36). Still, the Blues are a bottom-10 scoring team and need to get more shots on goal. St. Louis ranks 24th in shots on goal. The defense isn’t all that great either, ranking 18th in goals against (3.00). Goaltender Jordan Binnington has been one of the more consistent goalies in the NHL over the last decade. However, it’s tough when the defense in front of you isn’t playing well.

Binnington is just 13-17-3 this season. Binnington’s save percentage has only finished a regular season under .900 once. So far in 2024-25, that number is .898. He’s had some great performances, but he needs help from an undermanned defense.

The Blues do compete, but with their current roster they’re just not built for a postseason run. Montgomery will likely get what he can out of his roster this year and then look to rebuild in the offseason. Our experts believe the same with the Blues odds to win the division now at +50000.

Utah Hockey Club

The newest entrant into the NHL has been on a rollercoaster ride in its inaugural season. Utah’s roster was built through a combination of expansion draft picks, young prospects, and key acquisitions. It’s pretty much the same process the Vegas Golden Knights went through before they started play in 2017-18.

Offensively, Utah has relied heavily on its young core to drive production. Clayton Keller leads the team in goals with 17 and points with 51. Utah has five 30-point scorers – Keller, Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, and Mikhail Sergachev. The big problem for Utah has been its youth. They lack consistency and that comes from playing together over a period of time.

The new franchise is not the worst team in the Central Division. They have shown some flashes of success. Their power play unit ranks 13th while the penalty killing unit is ninth overall. Still, too many turnovers in the defensive zone and challenges with positional discipline have led to costly goals. Utah has yet to establish a defensive identity.

While their record may not yet reflect it, Utah does have a solid foundation on which to build. While their odds to win the division have lengthened, Utah will continue to develop. Head coach Andre Tourigny will put the emphasis on the long term. For our hockey experts, that means betting on Utah to win a division title is probably at least a few years away.

Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are once again the worst team in the Central Division. The Blackhawks have finished dead last in the division in each of the last two seasons. They haven’t won more than 30 games since 2019-20, which was also the last time they made the postseason.

What Chicago does have is a young star in Connor Bedard. He was the first pick in the 2023 NHL draft. He scored 22 goals and totaled 61 points in his first NHL season last year. So far this season, Bedard leads the Blackhawks with 41 points. Somehow, as bad as Chicago has been, their power play unit ranks ninth in the NHL. That unit is something to build on.

Goalie play has been an issue for Chicago. Petr Mrazek is 9-16-2 and has struggled. His GAA is 3.26 and his save percentage is .896. Overall the Blackhawks are one of the weakest defensive teams in the NHL. They rank 29th in goals against per game, allowing 3.43 per game. You can’t win many games when you give up three and four goals per night.

Chicago was predicted to be the worst team in the Central Division. That hasn’t changed as their odds moved from +9000 at opening to +25000 now. It will be another season of futility for Chicago. They need to sharpen up the defense. They have one of the worst goal differentials (-39) in the NHL. Until that changes, which will take some serious roster additions, the Blackhawks aren’t moving out of the division’s basement.

NHL Central Division Predictions

We applaud you if you picked up the Jets at +600 at the beginning of the season. A $100 bet will payout a nice $700 ($600 in winnings plus your original $100 wager). Right now, the Jets are priced at +190 to win the Central Division and those odds are only going to shorten as the season wears on.

The Jets have led the division for most of the 2024-25 season and they are clearly not letting up anytime soon. With the best goaltender in the NHL and a solid group of scorers, our Scores & Stats experts would make the move now and get Winnipeg at plus-money while you still can.

The only other play our NHL gurus would consider is a small play on the Avalanche. Don’t forget, the Avs won the division in three straight seasons before last year. They boast three of the top 15 scorers in the NHL and if they can tighten up the defense, anything is possible.

Best Bet: Winnipeg Jets (+190)