Vegas oddsmakers name favorites for the first round “play-in” series.

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association came to an agreement this week when NHLPA executives voted on the NHL's proposed plan to move forward with a 24 team playoff format, a vote that saw 29 votes in favor with only 2 dissenting votes cast by the representatives of their respective NHL teams. This now means that we have a pretty good idea of what the first round playoff matchups will look like, barring any potential changes that could come from the ongoing negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA, and that means the Vegas oddsmakers have been hard at work predicting their favorites.

No doubt there will be a ton of action on these games given that there has been very little in the way of competitive sports in the last several weeks so I would expect that these lines are going to be especially solid, although I would also add that given the dramatic shift the NHL is currently undertaking there will no doubt be room for plenty of upsets as well.

First here's a look at the full odds for the first round "play in" series as per Super Book USA:

TOR -160
CBJ +140

PIT -190
MTL +170

CAR -150
NYR +130

NYI EVEN
FLA -120

CGY -110
WPG -110

EDM -150
CHI +130

NSH -125
ARI +105

VAN -140
MIN +120

The Penguins are by far the biggest favorites on the board and given their opposition that makes a ton of sense. The Montreal Canadiens were the very last team to squeeze into the postseason under this new playoff format and realistically had almost no shot of making the playoffs had the season proceeded as normal. That being said the Habs do have star goaltender Carey Price who could make this very interesting if he turns up in peak form during this series. 

There are no real surprises here, the favorites are generally being viewed as the favorites given that they are facing teams that likely would have missed the playoffs. I will say however that if I am team like the Edmonton Oilers I might be a little wary of my first round matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks. While it's true that the Blackhawks will be without a core player like Brent Seabrook, they have a ton of championship pedigree on their roster with players like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and in a shorter series I doubt anyone would be surprised if those veterans somehow managed to pull off an upset. 

I for one can't wait to see the games and I can't wait to see if things play out as the oddsmakers have predicted.