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Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – NHL Picks

  • Mike Schultz's Author profile. Mike Schultz

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The 2015/16 regular season will begin this Wednesday, with an opening game between two long-time rival teams, as the Toronto Maple Leafs meet the Montreal Canadiens at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Both teams had less-than-stellar showings in the preseason, with Toronto only winning 3 out of 8 games. Our current betting odds have the Habs as -155 favorites to beat the Leafs.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Favorite: Montreal -155
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 7pm ET
Location:Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON

Montreal Canadiens

Carey Price is arguably the best goalie in the NHL right now, and the primary reason that the Habs have the best chance of any Canadian team to bring home the Stanley Cup this year, the odds of which we currently have at +1000. The Canadien’s strengths don’t begin and end in the goalie position, however, since the Habs have elite players at every position. Against Toronto, new team captain Max Pacioretty can notch a few points to begin the regular season, and PK Subban will be a handful in both zones after developing into one of the NHL’s best goal scoring defenders.

The Habs will need the younger players on their roster to step up this year in order to give the star players on the team the support they’ll need to make a Cup run. Expect the young upstarts on the Habs lineup to make a strong statement in the opening game, with Alex Galchenyuk, who has been moved from left wing to center this season, and Brendan Gallagher making their presence known early against the rusty Toronto vets.

bozak price nhl season opener 2015

Toronto Maple Leafs

After their lackluster showing in the preseason, the Leafs roster was trimmed down to 24 players, many of them aging veterans. New coach Mike Babcock has a huge challenge on his plate with a Toronto club in dire need of a rebuild.

Brendan Shanahan sent most of the team’s prospects back to the AHL this week, which is exactly what most expected him to do after promising to put his efforts into taking the time to develop new players. In fact, there won’t be a single rookie lacing up their skates for this season opener game against the Habs.

Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello made a statement after the cuts, saying that the team was in an “ongoing process” and that the decision to start all veteran players was necessary in order to “see what kind of team we have.” The Maple Leafs’ odds to win the Stanley Cup this year are -8000, the lowest of any Canadian team.

NHL Picks

Montreal, 3-2