There’s no mystery as to who the San Jose Sharks will select with the first overall pick in Friday night’s NHL Draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini is the favorite to walk across the stage first, with odds of -20,000.
But things could go a hundred different ways from there, which makes for good drama and even better stakes.
What makes things even more intriguing is that the four teams behind the Sharks in the draft — the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens — have each spent the past few seasons rebuilding and have impressive pipelines of prospects.
So these teams could afford to take some risks and throw this plan off track.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at some of the best bets to help you work up a good sweat on Friday night.
2nd Overall: D Zain Parekh (150/1, bet365)
Most prospect rankings rate Ivan Demidov as the second-best prospect in the draft, but the consensus is that the Blackhawks will pass on the Russian and fill a need in the organization by drafting a defenseman.
They have franchise cornerstone center Connor Bedard and will soon be joined by forwards Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore.
With that in mind, it makes sense that Artyom Levshunov is a very likely candidate to finish second with odds of -260.
The Michigan State Spartans have nearly all the talent in this pool that ranks in the top five, but several far-sighted prospect experts believe Parekh is the best defenseman in the draft, and the Blackhawks are the type of team looking to make an upside push at the position.
Probably Refshunov, but the rumours surrounding Parekh are enough to make him a 150/1 bet.
3rd place overall: RW Ivan Demidov (+425, bet365)
The Ducks have one of the deepest prospect depths in the NHL, with most of their key players being forwards, but they also have a deep blue line, so I think it will ultimately come down to a case of the team drafting the best player available rather than chasing organizational needs.
This is a bit of a paradox, as defensemen Anton Shiriev (+120) and Levshunov (+260) are the favorites to finish third, but I’d rather bet 2x the odds on the player widely regarded as the second-best in this pool and who will likely still be there when Anaheim makes it to the podium.
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4th Overall: D Artyom Levshunov (40/1, BetMGM)
This is an interesting situation.
It’s pretty tough to predict the second and third picks in this draft, but I still think the odds of the No. 2 pick being No. 4 behind the Blue Jackets are 40/1.
Cayden Lindstrom, a big-bodied centre from Medicine Hat in the WHL, is given -185 odds to go to Columbus, but that’s assuming everything goes according to plan with the first three picks, and there’s no telling how likely that is to happen.
If Refshunoff falls off, the Blue Jackets will likely acquire him.
