The NHL All-Star game is back after a one-year hiatus and will take place in Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena. The best players representing each of the four divisions will take part in a single-loss elimination tournament, with each of the three games consisting of two 10-minutes halves and being played at 3-on-3.
These teams aren’t playing for the comradery either, as the winning team gets a cool $1 million. The Pacific is the early favorite to advance to the finals — see what our NHL All-Star Game picks and predictions think.
NHL All-Star Game odds
The Atlantic opened as a -104 favorite on the ML over the Metro but swung to -125 with a total of 13.5 leaning to the Under. The Pacific opened as a small -110 favorite but has since moved to a slight dog at -102. That total sits at 14 and leans slightly to the Over.
Metro vs Atlantic betting preview
The two teams from the Eastern Conference will kick off the tourney with a 3 p.m. ET start. This game opened as a pick 'em but the Atlantic has seen some interest and sits as a -125 ML favorite, while the total is sitting at 13.5, which is a little shorter than that of the Western Conference game.
The Atlantic team has won three of the last five meetings and won 9-5 in the most recent meeting back in 2020. This is a very top-heavy team, spearheaded by the league leader in points in Jonathan Huberdeau and the leader in goals per game in Auston Matthews. The reigning MVP, David Pastrnak, did not make the game this year.
At first glance, this team has some great upper-tier talent in Matthews and Huberdeau, but the supporting cast just doesn't do it for us. Steven Stamkos is likely the third-best player on this team and filling out the roster with Nick Suzuki, Patrice Bergeron, Dylan Larkin, Brady Tkachuk, and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin might not be the best recipe for success in what is basically an end-to-end shootout. However, it might be enough against the Metro, which is missing some key pieces.
Goaltending isn’t a big deal here, as you likely have to be lucky to be good. The best goalie in the 2020 All-Star game was David Rittich with a 6.00 GAA. In saying that, the Atlantic is strong in net with Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jack Campbell, both of whom are in the mid-season Vezina discussion.
The Metropolitan Division will be without a few stars in Alex Ovechkin and Adam Fox. The presence of those two would certainly bolster this squad and we think strong-skating defensemen are a huge advantage in this format. But there are some problems with this squad — possibly more so than the Atlantic.
The leading goal-scorer on this team, Chris Kreider, although fast, is not a creative offensive player and scores most of his goals in front of the net. The offense is rounded out by Jake Guentzel (without Sidney Crosby), Sebastian Aho, Claude Giroux, Jack Hughes, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson. The defense of Zach Werenski and Adam Pelech is also not a great fit in this format in our opinion. This is more of a Hardest Shot team than a 21 in 21 team if you catch our drift.
The goalie tandem of Frederik Andersen and Tristan Jarry doesn’t hold any advantage in this matchup, either. This will be Jarry’s second All-Star game, as he picked up the loss in the 2020 game. Andersen has also played in just one of these formats despite being voted to the All-Star game three times.
The Atlantic just has a better blend of players for this matchup. They have speed in Larkin and Suzuki, some skill on defense with Victor Hedman, two of the best finishers in hockey with Matthews and Stamkos, while Huberdeau and Bergeron are solid pieces in their own right. They even have Tkachuk who can keep Wilson and Kreider in check.
Give us the Atlantic at -125, but we’re a little shy on the total — we don’t love the Over and certainly aren’t betting the Under. We think the Atlantic can pick up the first win but doubt we’d back them against the Pacific if that’s where the finals are headed.
Best Bet: Atlantic ML (-125)
Pacific vs Central betting preview
The Pacific comes into the Western Conference game as slight -102 underdogs. They’ll have T-Mobile Arena on their side and have won the tournament in three of its five years. They’ve also taken care of the Central Division in four of the past five games, and even as a slight dog, we're thinking this is the right side in this matchup.
First off, having Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in a 3-on-3 competition is a cheat code.
The supporting cast isn’t great with Timo Meier, Adrian Kempe, and Jordan Eberle, but Eberle has chemistry with the boys from Edmonton, and Mark Stone and young gun Troy Terry should be enough to tickle the twine for the defending champs. Draisaitl led the team in points in 2020 with six points in two games while McDavid has collected 13 points in four All-Star tournaments.
The goaltending tandem of John Gibson and Thatcher Demko, two goalies who just returned from injuries last month, has us liking the Over 14 more than the Pacific on the moneyline.
Tasked with keeping the Pacific in check for the first game is a Central Division squad that will be without Nathan MacKinnon. Outside of Cale Makar and Kapril Kaprizov, this team lacks big-name recognition. Sure Nazem Kadri, Kyle Connor, Alex DeBrincat, Joe Pavelski, and Roman Josi are elite players, but they don’t have the VIP access that is given to the top-tier players like Matthews, McDavid, and MacKinnon. But don’t sleep on the Central.
What this team does have is a balanced attack and defense, as Josi and Makar are possibly the two best offensive defensemen in the tournament. Add in great finishers like DeBrincat, Connor, and Kaprizov and this team could light the lamp as well. We likely won’t bet against the Pacific but out of the two games, this is the one we are more than willing to pull the trigger on the Over 14.
Looking into our crystal ball, we’d also likely be inclined to choose whoever comes out of the West to win it all. The team from the West would likely be a short favorite, and don’t be surprised if we get less scoring in the finals with $1 million on the line.
For now, we’re betting on goals in the West semifinal and think we can get seven from each side.
Best Bet: Over 14 (-109)
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