NHL Western Conference Winner 2020 - Predictions & Odds

• Last year’s Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues could very well see their second Western Conference championship in a row in 2020
• The Edmonton Oilers are legit contenders- if their top line can stay healthy
• Chicago, Arizona, and Dallas – avoid at all costs!

With the goal in mind to restart the NHL season at the end of July, oddsmakers have wasted no time in laying out their favorites. The Western Conference sees both familiar faces when it comes to playoff contenders this season as well as its fair share of teams we may not have considered at the start of the year.

While last year’s Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues, are heavily favored, teams such as the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames have snuck up as contenders throughout the 2019-20 season.

Here are the early odds for the Western Conference winner. Numbers are bound to change once the initial qualifying rounds have been completed.

NHL Western Conference Winner Odds

Odds taken on July 20 from DraftKings Sportsbook.

Favorites to Win the West 2020

The St. Louis Blues could very well be the first Western Conference team to win back-to-back Stanley Cups since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings.

This team was no joke.

They allowed the sixth-fewest goals against, had the third-best power play, and had a save percentage in the top-ten. It’s actually surprising that the odds for the Blues to take the West this season aren’t even more favorable.

If it’s not the Blues, though, it SHOULD be the Colorado Avalanche. This was their season.

Their play was spectacular, they stayed competitive throughout injury, and if the season doesn’t come to a conclusion, the Avs will be the most robbed when it comes to a championship opportunity. The team was within the top-five for goals scored and Nathan MacKinnon finished as the fifth-highest scorer with 95 points.

The Oilers could also pull this off. That is if Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid stay healthy. The two led the league in scoring (Draisaitl being the only player to surpass 100 points) and the Oilers consistently led the league when it came to the power play. They sat in second place in the Pacific Division before the season came to an end.

No Chance to Win the West 2020

Trust the odds on this one: the Chicago Blackhawks will not be the 2020 Stanley Cup champions. They finished dead last in the Central division and ended the season with just 72 points – the lowest point total of any Western Conference team to be included in the qualifying rounds. They are +3000 for a reason.

We would also steer clear of the Arizona Coyotes here. Although they have playoff experience in Phil Kessel, new acquisitions to the team such as Taylor Hall (including Kessel himself) haven’t exactly put up the type of numbers expected of them. Nick Schmaltz led the team with 45 points in 70 games, outsourcing Hall, Kessel, Carl Soderberg, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Finally, in what could be considered a controversial opinion, the Dallas Stars seem like a team about to fall apart. They finished the season on a six-game losing streak and finished as the third-lowest scoring team in the league despite the firepower they have on their roster.

Underdogs to Win the West 2020

Don’t be surprised if the Minnesota Wild work their way in there. At +2000, they are probably the best dark horse bet in the West. They finished with 77 points in 69 games and ended the season on a win, going 7-3-0 across their final ten games.

The Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators also share a spot on the dark horse list as both teams finished their seasons on significant winning streaks – the Jets with four and the Preds with three. Just two points away from each other in the standings (the Jets finished with 80 and Nashville with 78), these two teams were also only one goal-scored apart from each other this season.