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Maple Leafs vs. Devils Predictions, Odds, and Total

Another year, another first round exit for the Leafs? I am not so sure...

By Justin Lavoie

Boston Bruins v Toronto Maple Leafs - Game Three
Boston Bruins v Toronto Maple Leafs - Game Three / Claus Andersen/GettyImages
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are the NHL's version of the Dallas Cowboys. Every year they dazzle us in the regular season and show promise that they're ready to get over the hump and like clockwork they come up short. But let's forget the narrative for a few moments and isolate some facts as we assess how to bet this game against the New Jersey Devils.

First things first, their loss to the Boston Bruins last season was not nearly the debacle that the Leafs detractors would have you believe. They were for large parts of the series missing Joseph Woll, Auston Matthews and William Nylander, and in game 3 all were out of the lineup. They still managed to force game 7 overtime against the B's.

The narrative that bites them every year ended up being the storyline and in fairness they have brought this reputation onto themselves, but if you hold that series in isolation from their past ones, I don't view it as the utter failure most do. If you map that set of circumstances unto any team in the NHL, I doubt many would be able to for a game 7.

The Leafs had a pretty decent offseason in their own right. Their defence group is the best it's been in the Matthews/Marner/Nylander era. Briging in Chris Tanev was a tidy piece of business along with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Jani Haakanpaa. I expect them to win the Atlantic this season by an albeit slim margin.

The New Jersey Devils are ready to roll. Last season before superstar Jack Hughes went down he was the betting favourite to win the Hart trophy. They were also without their big stud defenceman Dougie Hamilton. As a result, they allowed a ton of high danger scoring chances that their below league average goaltending was not able stop. They added veteran goalie Jake Allen at the deadline which did help bring those numbers up a tick.

Fast forward to October 2024 and this team has had a hell of an offseason giving them a much more promising outlook heading into this season. They added Jakob Markstrom from Calgary who is the top goalie in the NHL in high danger scoring chances save percentage, Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes are both healthy, and they also added Brendan Dillon and Brett Pesce to bolster what was already a very good blue line.

I suggest placing some futures on both these teams.

Maple Leafs vs. Devils Odds

Odds via bet365

Moneyline

  • Devils -135
  • Leafs +115

Puck Line:

  • Devils -1.5 (+190)
  • Leafs +1.5 (-230)

Total:

  • OVER 6.5 (-115)
  • UNDER 6.5 (-105)

Leafs vs. Devils Prediction and Pick

This game is really tough to handicap. I could easily see these two being the conference final matchup this year. As a noted Leafs hater and unbeliever (if that's a word), I actually have high hopes for them this season.

With that being said, Joseph Woll is getting held out as a precaution due to lower body tightness, therefore Anthony Stolarz gets the nod in between the pipes. I don't think this spells a ton of trouble for the Leafs long term, but in this game I think it does.

The Devils are coming off back to back wins against the Sabres and are feeling it. The #1 rule in hockey betting is you don't fade teams on winning streaks. Gimme the Devils on the puckline

Pick: Devils puckline -1.5 (+190)

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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