Betting Odds: Toronto, Montreal Clash In Opener

It’s not a surprise, looking at sportsbook futures betting, that you see the Toronto Maple Leafs dominating among Ontario bettors.

The Leafs open regular season play Wednesday (Oct. 11) at home in  Scotiabank Arena against the Montreal Canadiens. The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.

Leafs Add More Grit

Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving made substantive lineup changes this off-season, waving goodbye to Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Noel Acciari, Justin Holl, Michael Bunting and Alexander Kerfoot, among others.

He did this while bringing in more grit, in Ryan Reaves, Tyler Bertuzzi (who starts Wednesday on the No. 1 line with Matthews and Mitch Marner), Max Domi and John Klingberg.

Then a curveball arrived during training camp – 2022 first round pick Fraser Minten, just 19, impressed coach Sheldon Keefe, centering the third line with Knies on his left wing. The Leafs were looking at switching William Nylander to centre to give them three scoring lines, but Minten’s ascension means Nylander can move back to the wing on the second line next to John Tavares.

Betting Odds For Current Season

Going into the opener against Montreal, the Leafs have weaknesses on defence. Treliving said he would address that in the off-season, but other than Klingberg, the GM wasn’t able to do get that done. We’ll see how that progresses.

Currently, BetMGM Sportsbook has the Leafs at 11.00 to win the Stanley Cup, tied with the Devils and Oilers, after the Colorado Avalanche (10.00) and Carolina Hurricanes (10.00). The Bruins have lost two centres, so they’re more vulnerable (15.00), and the Tampa Bay Lightning have goaltending questions, with Andrei Vasilevskiy out longterm after back surgery, so the Leafs have a better opportunity to win the Eastern Conference (BetMGM has those odds at 7.00, behind the Hurricanes, at 6.00).

For the season opener, theScore Bet has the moneyline at Leafs 1.34, Canadiens 3.40, with the spread at Leafs -1.5 (1.83). Also, the Over-Under is 6.5 (1.77 on the Over, 2.10 on the Under).