2024-25 NHL Pacific Division Odds and Predictions

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Whether it’s the books or simply the day-to-day standings, the NHL Pacific Division is a two-team race. Vegas has actually won three division titles since its inception in 2017-18. The Knights lead the division and will spend the second half of 2024-25 fighting off the Edmonton Oilers. Those are the same Oilers that lost in seven games to Florida in last year’s Stanley Cup.

With the return of two of the best players of this generation, it’s no wonder the Oilers were the favorite to win the division again when the season started. However, as we approach the NHL All-Star weekend, the two teams are locked in a battle for control of the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights are also the new favorite at -110 to win the division.

Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Calgary will all continue to compete for a coveted playoff spot. All three teams are within 12 points of the division leaders. They continue to jockey back and forth for places three through five in the division. The Canucks were the surprise winner of the Pacific Division a year ago. This season, they’re having the same problem with keeping G Thatcher Demko on the ice. He’s only played 13 games this season.

In the grand scheme of things, Edmonton and Vegas are still among the top contenders to win the Western Conference. The Oilers continue to be the conference favorite. The Canucks were second on the conference betting board at the beginning of the season, but their slow start has dropped them out of the top five contenders. Keep up to date on the NHL conference races with our hockey experts here at Scores & Stats. Read on to get their latest take on the 2024-25 NHL Pacific Division.

2024-25 NHL Pacific Division Odds

Check out the latest NHL odds for the Pacific Division.

NHL Pacific Division Teams

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

Edmonton Oilers

So, what do the Oilers do for an encore? They put together a strong season last year and advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers would lose 2-1 in Game 7 of that series. Surely, that is enough motivation to drive Edmonton to get back to the Cup finals in 2024-25. They definitely have the roster to do so.

The Oilers have won three of the last five Hart Memorial Trophies. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are once again among the top five scorers in the NHL. Through 50 games, Draisaitl (75) and McDavid (66) ranked No. 2 and No. 5. McDavid has missed some time, playing in 44 of the 50 Oilers games. Draisaitl leads the NHL with 35 goals and is on track to hit 50-plus again. That’s something he has done three times in his career already.

The remaining schedule favors Edmonton as well. They have just one game left against Vegas. They do play Winnipeg twice and Colorado once. Plus, they have a wicked stretch of Washington, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Carolina all on the road at the end of February. But, other than that road trip, the Oilers play the bottom of the barrel in the West over the second half of the season.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks actually won the division last year, but a repeat doesn’t appear to be in the cards. One of the big problems for Vancouver, as mentioned earlier, has been goaltender Thatcher Demko. Demko is a two-time All-Star who had his best season last year. He went 35-14-2 with a career-best 2.45 GAA, which was fifth among all NHL goalies. Demko also sported a .918 save percentage, which was tied for third in the league.

The problem with Demko is his health. He missed a number of games last season and this year Demko has just 13 starts. In those 13 starts, he wasn’t all that great either. Demko is just 4-5-3 with a 3.27 GAA. His knee injury clearly isn’t healed yet and without him in the net, Vancouver is really a different team.

The Canucks do have some guys that can score. Seven skaters have double-digit goal totals and six have 30 points or more. Defenseman Quinn Hughes leads the Canucks with 14 goals and 58 points. Jake DeBrusk, acquired in the offseason from Boston. He is the team’s leading goal scorer with 17 and he has 30 points total.

Getting back to the playoffs will probably depend upon Demko. If the Canucks can get him back and in good form, they would have a shot to compete for at least a wild card spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver continues to remain within striking distance of third place in the division. After 50 games, the Canucks were just two points behind Los Angeles in the division race.

Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas continues to roll in 2024-25. The Golden Knights are good on both sides of the ice. Adin Hill and Ilya Samsonov are a pair of elite goaltenders. Jack Eichel (16 goals, 64 points) is among the league’s best scorers. Pavel Dorofeyev has 22 goals and D Shea Theodore is as good a blue-liner as any in the league.

The Knights have made the postseason in six of their seven seasons of existence. They won a Stanley Cup championship (2022-23) and they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season, 2017-18. The Knights were projected to get back to the postseason after losing to Dallas in last year’s first round.

Vegas is the fourth-best scoring (3.39) team in the NHL while also being a top ten team on defense, allowing 2.77 goals per game (ninth). Hill is 19-9-4 with a 2.65 GAA and a .901 save percentage. Samsonov is equally as good with a 12-6-1 record, a GAA of 2.78, and a save percentage of .898.

There is no question that Vegas has the roster to not only get back to the playoffs, but also win the division. After the team’s hot start to this season, the sportsbooks now have installed Vegas as the -110 favorite to win the Pacific Division.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings were a team that some thought could sneak in and surprise the rest of the Pacific Division. The NHL experts at Scores & Stats didn’t see it that way and, as of now, it appears they were onto something. With one game remaining in January, the Kings had won just five of 12 games in the month. They still remain very much a part of the playoff discussion, but winning the division isn’t likely.

Los Angeles does play very good defense and G Darcy Kuemper is among the league’s best. In 27 games played, Kuemper is 12-6-6 with a 2.17 GAA. That’s fourth-best in the NHL as is his save percentage of .921. The problem for the Kings is on the offensive end.

Adrian Kempe (24 goals, 44 points) is a legitimate scorer. So is Anze Kopitar who has 12 goals and 43 points on the season. Other than that, the Kings offense could use a boost. The Kings are devoid of any other stars and their power play is awful. At a 15.7 percent rate of success, Los Angeles ranks 29th among the 32 teams in the NHL.

The penalty killing unit (81.7%) is strong and ranks among the top ten in the NHL. That’s not surprising given the Kings defense. But, defense can only carry a team so far in the NHL. At some point, you have to be able to score and the Kings have been too inconsistent in getting good shots on the net.

Seattle Kraken

If not for San Jose, the Kraken would likely be the worst team in the Pacific Division. They can challenge anyone for the title of worst in the West as well, even though the Blackhawks probably hold the key to that one.

It’s so bad in Seattle, the Kraken just waived their No. 1 goalie Philipp Grubauer. He just lost five straight games near the end of January and the Kraken had to do something to ease the pain. For the season, Grubauer is just 5-15-1 and has 3.83 goals against average and a .886 save percentage. Both of those numbers are the worst for any goaltender in the NHL this season.

The Kraken are a decent scoring team, averaging 2.92 goals per game. Jared McCann’s 39 points leads the team and C Jaden Schwartz has a team-high 17 goals. The mediocre scoring combined with the defense giving up 3.19 goals per game (24th in the NHL) has contributed to the Kraken now turning their focus to the NHL draft.

Seattle doesn’t have a scorer in the top 50 in the NHL. The one bright spot for the Kraken is goalie Joey Daccord. He is 17-12-2 so far this season. He’ll take on the role of G1 as the season moves on. Daccord’s GAA of 2.45 ranks eighth in the NHL and he also has a pretty respectable .917 save percentage. However, even if Daccord gets hot and the Kraken figure out how to score more often, they aren’t digging themselves out of the massive hole they put themselves in to start the season.

Calgary Flames

As we head to the NHL’s All-Star weekend, Calgary still has a shot at earning a playoff spot. The Flames have been teetering between third and fifth place in the division all season. After 50 games, they are just one game out of third place. If the season ended at the time of this writing, the Flames would earn a wild card spot.

The problem Calgary has is on the offensive end. The defense is pretty solid, especially goaltender Dustin Wolf. He’s actually got some pretty strong numbers when compared against other goalies around the NHL. Wolf is 19-8-2 and has a 2.51 goals against average. That ranks 13th among qualified netminders.

Wolf’s save percentage is .917 which puts him fifth in the league. It’s also why Calgary ranks 14th in overall goals against average. The Flames allow 2.92 goals per game, but you can’t win games in the NHL on defense alone. Calgary ranks 28th in scoring with an average of just 2.68 goals per game. Their leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau, has 19 goals and 36 points. Since being obtained from Florida prior to the 2022-23 season, Huberdeau hasn’t come close to the 115 points he put up in 2021-22.

The Flames’ power play isn’t horrible (17th, 21%), but the penalty killing unit is killing Calgary. They rank 28th in the NHL and give up far too many goals when playing shorthanded.

Calgary opened the season as a +1800 longshot to win the division. Those odds are now much longer at +15000 and rightfully so. The Flames may battle for a playoff spot, but they are not overtaking the two-team race at the top of the division.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks are not getting anywhere near that two-team race at the top of the division either. Anaheim wasn’t projected to do much in 2024-25 and they aren’t. While they aren’t last in the division, they aren’t getting anywhere near a playoff berth until they revamp their roster.

So far, this year’s roster is the absolute worst scoring team in the NHL. The Ducks average 2.51 goals per game. That’s 32nd in the 32-team league. Troy Terry, who has 16 goals, is the only Ducks player with more than 30 points so far this season. Terry has 39 total.

Goaltender Lukas Dostal does what he can, but the defense isn’t good. Dostal is 13-13-4 with a 2.97 GAA. Giving up three goals a game doesn’t win many. The special teams are terrible too. Anaheim is 31st on the power play. They convert just 12.9 percent of the time. On the other end, the penalty killing unit ranks 27th.

The Ducks can’t score and don’t defend well, which is why they had a -31 goal differential after 50 games this season. That number was the third worst in the Western Conference. Instead of vying for a playoff spot, the Ducks will compete with the other Pacific Division bottom-feeder (San Jose) for a top pick in this year’s NHL draft lottery.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks were an afterthought at the beginning of the season. Sportsbooks essentially saw no chance for the Sharks to find a way to win the Pacific Division. Those chances have dwindled even more after a 14-31-6 start after 51 games. The Sharks odds have now shot up from +20000 to +50000.

If San Jose does anything this season, it will be identifying talent that can help this team make a move into the upper echelon of the division. Where the Sharks need the most improvement is on defense. They have given up the most goals in the NHL and have a league-high -57 goal differential. You can’t win games in the NHL when you routinely allow opponents, three, four, and five goals a night.

The Sharks top goalie, Mackenzie Blackwood, is now in Colorado. Blackwood was only 6-9-3 with a 3.00 GAA for San Jose. Alexandar Georgiev was acquired from the Avalanche and he is just 2-10-0 in 12 games with San Jose. It’s only 12 games, but his GAA is 4.01 and his save percentage is a pathetic .877. If the defense and goaltending doesn’t get any better, San Jose might have a tough time reaching 30 wins on the season.

NHL Pacific Division Predictions

If you picked up Vegas at the beginning of the season at +275 to win the division, good for you. It may pan out, but jumping on the Golden Knights at -110 now just doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is a bet on the team with the two best offensive players in the league.

Now, maybe you jumped on Edmonton at the beginning of the season at +160. Great. You’re still getting value there, but now you can get even more. With Vegas the new favorite, the Oilers odds to win the division lengthened a bit to +200. Your $100 bet will now pay out $300 total, your stake of $100 plus winnings of $200.

After 52 games (51 for Edmonton), the two teams were tied for first place in the division with 68 points. The two teams have played three times already this season. Vegas won the first two games. The Knights won 4-1 at Edmonton and 1-0 on their home ice. Edmonton won the most recent game at home, 6-3, on Dec. 14. The two teams will meet for the final time this season on April 1 in Vegas.

After that game in Vegas, Edmonton will play eight more games, six of which are against division opponents. The Oilers play the Sharks three times, the Kings twice, and the Ducks once. Those games could have a huge impact on the race for the Pacific Division title, which our NHL experts believe will go to the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have finished second in the division in four straight seasons. This is the year they take over the top spot.

You can find this pick and more NHL picks at Scores & Stats. Hover over “Picks” at the top of the page to view the picks menu. Click on NHL picks and you’re on your way to the best NHL picks in the industry. Our handicappers are well known throughout the entire sports betting world not only for their elite predictions, but also for the quality of insight and information they provide.

Bet: Edmonton Oilers (+200)