The New Jersey Devils entered last season among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in terms of betting odds around most Sportsbooks. We all know how that worked out as the Devils underperformed and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Star center Jack Hughes was among the trendy picks to win the Hart Trophy while defenseman Luke Hughes entered 2023-24 with good odds to win the Calder Trophy. Jack didn’t last in the Hart Trophy race, thanks in large part to injury, but his brother, Luke, put together a good enough season to be a Calder finalist. If you were betting heavily on the Devils and their player futures going into last season, our apologies.

But not to worry, the 2024-25 season is around the corner and there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about the Devils. Below we’re going to take a look at betting odds for the Devils this season and what it tells us the public and oddsmakers in Vegas think of the team entering the season.

Team Futures

Odds to win Stanley Cup: +1300
Odds to win Eastern Conference: +650
Odds to win Metropolitan Division: +230
Odds to be No. 1 seed in playoffs: +600
Regular season points over/under: 100.5
Odds to make playoffs: -400
Odds to win Presidents’ Trophy: +1300

Note: All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook.

Analysis

The Devils are tied with the rival New York Rangers at +1300 to win the Stanley Cup entering this season. Last season, New Jersey entered the season tied for second-best odds to win it all at +900. Those odds were a product of surprising everyone by upsetting the Rangers in the first round of the 2022-23 Stanley Cup Playoffs. We all know how last season went, the Devils finishing with 81 points and missing the playoffs.

It appears Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald made enough moves this offseason to instill similar confidence in the books that the team belongs among the top teams to win it all. The Devils are tied for the fourth-best odds to win the Cup at +1300; the Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs have the same odds. Fitzgerald went out and shored up the goalie position by trading for Calgary Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom. The team also addressed the blue line by adding veterans Brett Pesce and Brendon Dillon via free agency. The bottom-six got some more grit with the addition of forward Paul Cotter via a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights involving Alexander Holtz.

All of those moves shore up the back-end and defense while the Devils bring back mostly the same forward group, which should continue to grow together. The addition of head coach Sheldon Keefe as a replacement for Lindy Ruff should also be a net-positive. So should we be considering the Devils to win the Cup?

Of those futures odds, the Devils season point total over/under of 100.5 (sixth-highest in the league) is certainly interesting. Making a 20-point improvement may seem like a lot but this is mostly the same roster that went for a franchise-record 112 points a few season ago. In 2022-23, New Jersey had 52 wins and eight overtime or shootout losses. Last season, the Devils weren’t strong enough on the back end and in net to get many games to overtime or the shootout. Expect that to change with the offseason additions of Markstrom, Pesce, Dillon and Cotter.

Lastly, the -400 odds to make the playoffs translates to an implied odds of 80.00%. This figure is the fifth-best in the league. Even higher than their rivals, the New York Rangers, who have -350 odds to make the postseason.

Player Awards

Jack Hughes

Hughes was a very trendy pick to win MVP going into last season. In 2022-23, Hughes set the Devils’ franchise mark for points with 99 points in 78 games. This past season, nothing went well for New Jersey as we all saw. Hughes got off to a torrid start in 2023-24 with 18 points in eight games in October. An injury early in November derailed Hughes (and the Devils) season to an extent. He’d still manage 56 points in 54 games after returning. But the Devils fell down the standings and would never recover.

There’s much more optimism going into this season for the Devils and that’s the path to Hughes winning the Hart Trophy (+1300 odds; fourth-best). We know what he’s capable of doing when healthy and surrounded by talent. But even when he had 99 points and the Devils finished with 112 points, Hughes finished 8th in voting for the Hart in 2022-23. So, realistically, Hughes will need to eclipse 100 points and help lead the Devils toward the top of the Eastern Conference to win MVP. The good thing is we know new head coach Sheldon Keefe can coach a player to MVP; Auston Matthews scored 60 goals and won the award in 2021-22 with the Maple Leafs.

With that in mind, Hughes is probably a better bet to win the Rocket Richard Trophy at +2200 (seventh-best odds). He finished eighth in goals in 2022-23 with 43. If Keefe deploys Hughes in a similar style to Matthews, that could mean a career high is on the way. At +3000 (seventh-best odds), Hughes also isn’t a bad long-shot to win the Art Ross Trophy for most points in the NHL.

Other Notable Individual Futures

Dougie Hamilton is a long-shot to win the Norris Trophy at +7500 (13th-best odds). Hamilton’s injuries can be a concern at 31 years old. Hamilton missed most of last season with a torn pectoral muscle. Despite being a long-shot, he does enter the season and has a path to winning the Norris. If everything goes right for the Devils and the power play rebounds, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Hamilton leads all NHL defensemen in points. In 2022-23, Hamilton finished with 74 points in 82 games, good for fourth among defensemen that season. He also had 22 goals, which was second behind Erik Karlsson among defensemen that season. It wasn’t good enough for Hamilton to be a Norris finalist, however; he did finish sixth in voting.

Jacob Markstrom has decent odds to win the Vezina Trophy at +1200 (fifth-best odds) coming over from the Flames. Markstrom hasn’t won the award in his career but came close in 2021-22 with Calgary, finishing second in voting. He posted a 37-15-9 record with 2.22 goals against average and .922 save percentage, leading the NHL in shutouts with nine that season. Looking at his career, those numbers were far and away his best season. That gives us a good ceiling of what Markstrom can do if he’s on a competitive team.

Nico Hischer comes in at +1200 to win the Selke Trophy for the NHL’s best two-way forward. This feels like the strongest bet among these Devils player futures odds. Hischier finished second in Selke voting in 2022-23 but could never get fully healthy last season. Despite how poorly New Jersey performed in 2023-24, Hischier still got some Selke votes and was a top-20 candidate for the award. He should bounce back and has mostly the same players around him as in 2022-23. Ideally, we’d like to get Hischier at a bit of a discount than tied for the third-best odds, however, there can be some solid value here.

In his first season, expectations for Keefe are very high. He’s the betting favorite to win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top head coach at +600. While with the Maple Leafs, Keefe’s teams posted two seasons with 50-plus wins. Toronto had 115 points in 2021-22, which ranked fourth in the league that season. Keefe certainly has the roster and narrative to win the award.

As mentioned, the Devils had 81 points last season and are projected for at least a 20-point improvement given the above-mentioned over/under of 100.5. Former head coach Lindy Ruff was a Jack Adams finalist in 2022-23 after New Jersey turned things around.