NHL Draft Throws up Few Surprises

Just days after the Chicago Blackhawks clinched the 2013 Stanley Cup, the National Hockey League’s 30 teams produced little surprises when they made their selections in the NHL draft.

NHL Draft Wrap

The Blackhawks may have been the big winners in 2013, but the Colorado Avalanche are the early victors in the race for the 2013-14 Stanley Cup after they picked up 17-year-old Nova Scotian center Nathan MacKinnon with the first pick of the draft at New Jersey’s Prudential Center on Sunday.

Real hockey fans will know the significance of this pick. MacKinnon was the first number one draft pick from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League since the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Sidney Crosby in 2005. In a further twist, MacKinnon and Crosby are both from Cole Harbour, a town of just 25,000 people in Nova Scotia.

The NHL draft is all about the teams that didn’t make the playoffs. Florida Panthers picked Aleksander Barkov at pick 2, Tampa Bay Lightning went with Jonathan Drouin with pick 3, and the Nashville predators took defenseman Seth Jones – son of former NBA forward Popeye with pick 4. Carolina Hurricanes closed out the top five with center Elias Lindholm.

2013-14 NHL Betting

The last season is barely over and already William Hill has released its Stanley Cup title odds for 2013/14: Pittsburgh Penguins, 6/1, Chicago Blackhakws, 15/2, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, 10/1, St Louis Blues, 12/1, Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks, 16/1, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, 20/1, all others 22/1 or over.

The fastest action on ice begins October 5, in just three months from now. Hill’s online sportsbook will be there with pre-match betting and live in-play betting odds on every single regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs game.