Stanley Cup odds: What happened to this preseason favorite?
Yes, the NHL All-Star break is technically past the halfway point of the regular season. But it's as good a time as any to check in on which teams are exceeding expectations ahead of the second half — and which former favorites have proven us wrong.
On that note, we turn our attention back to the New Jersey Devils.
Yardbarker took a look at Lindy Ruff's team back in September and wondered if they were worth their preseason hype. At the time, DraftKings and other major oddsmakers were high on the scrappy young club to be a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference.
Where do things stand now? Let's take a look.
DraftKings may have listed the Devils favorably at 9-1 to win the Stanley Cup back before the season started, but DK lists them at the All-Star break as a 25-1 long shot.
That may not seem so bad when you consider they are just six points out of a wild-card spot in the East. However, their chances — and their odds — of winning a championship will be even farther away if the second half of their season mirrors the first.
To be fair, injuries to key players have put the Devils in a tough spot. Top-line center and captain Nico Hischier suffered an upper-body injury at the beginning of the season, while the team's second-best points-getter Jack Hughes has been out since Jan. 5 and will now miss the All-Star Game. Power forward Timo Meier has missed time, and top defenseman Dougie Hamilton is out indefinitely after having pectoral surgery. And when you add in the players who are now away from the team indefinitely for non-injury reasons, it's no wonder they haven't lived up to those preseason odds.
The Devils also haven't found consistency with those players out of the lineup. Offseason acquisition Tyler Toffoli has proved to still be a scoring threat by registering 34 points in 47 games, but he's also a minus-9 on the season. Fellow veteran forward Curtis Lazar has been better defensively on the ice than some defenders and is a plus-10 on the season, but he and Stanley Cup-winner Ondrej Palat have only contributed six goals apiece through over half of the season. And this doesn't even get into the goaltending issues, which have prompted fans to wish Martin Brodeur out of retirement.
What does this all add up to? A minus-7 goal differential on the season and a losing record both at home as well as on the road.
Could the Devils turn things around and become betting favorites in the second half of the season? Of course, they could. Just look at what happened to the Edmonton Oilers recently.
There is no denying, however, that a lot of things will have to go right for New Jersey to have more favorable odds in the second half of the regular season.
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