Blackhawks Favored to Return to Playoffs After Busy Offseason

No team in the NHL had as active of an offseason as the Chicago Blackhawks.

They traded for the hottest offseason commodity in defenseman Seth Jones, then traded for center Tyler Johnson from the Tampa Bay Lightning  and Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on the same day.

The three biggest trades of the offseason were all executed by the Blackhawks, and they received more good news when news came out that captain Jonathan Toews plans to return to the team after missing the entire 2020-21 season due to health concerns.

All of those moves combined have instantly made the Blackhawks a contender, only months after missing the NHL playoffs with a 24-25-7 record in the shortened season.

WynnBET has released odds for teams to make the playoffs this coming season, and it has the Blackhawks favored to return to the postseason at -130 odds, which is an implied probability of 56.52%. Their odds to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season is +104.

The NHL will be returning to its usual divisions, after the one-off season that had temporary divisions in order to cut down on each team’s travel to help with COVID-19 regulations. Returning to normal divisions will only help the Blackhawks. Last year they had to compete with top contenders in the Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

With them returning to the usual Central Division, the Blackhawks main competition will be the Colorado Avalanche. The next best teams will be the Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues in what will be a generally weak division.

WynnBET has the Blackhawks odds to win the Central Division set at +1700, but that’s largely due to the Avalanche being near locks at -220. Finishing in second or third in the division certainly isn’t out of the cards for Chicago.

The Blackhawks open their season in Colorado on October 13th, and WynnBET has them rightfully set as +175 underdogs.

Get in on the action with the WynnBET app.