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As we approach March, the NHL playoff race is heating up. While it appears the eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference are set, there’s a bit more intrigue in the West. The Stanley Cup favorite resides in the West, but you can make the case the rest of the contenders are from the East. It’ll be an interesting final two months of the regular season and playoffs.
Since the offseason, bettors have been placing their money on teams to hoist the Stanley Cup. Which teams are getting the majority of the action at BetMGM?
Colorado is favored and bettors love them
The Colorado Avalanche have the best record in the league. After starting the season 4-5-1, Colorado has gone 33-5-3 in their 41 games since. The lineup is loaded with talent, headlined by Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar.
It’s no surprise that the Avalanche are the current Stanley Cup favorites at +425. They were favorites to win it all last year before falling to the Vegas Golden Knights in the playoffs, and they’re back in the favorite role again this year.
No team has received more bets than the Avalanche at BetMGM. Currently, 26% of bets and 32% of the money is backing Colorado to lift the Cup at the end of the year. Not surprisingly, the Avalanche are heavy favorites to come out of the West. Colorado is currently +150 to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Forty-one percent of bets and 48% of the money is backing the Avalanche to come out of the West.
It’s hard to disagree with the odds or the consensus opinion of bettors here. Colorado is the best team in the league, and it appears the West will be easier to come out of than the East. The Avalanche have experienced playoff heartbreak in recent seasons, which is usually a prerequisite to winning a Stanley Cup in the NHL. As long as Darcy Kuemper holds up in net, Colorado is a good bet.
Who are some other teams near the top?
The Tampa Bay Lightning have won back-to-back Stanley Cups in two seasons that were shortened due to the pandemic. Will they be able to complete the three-peat in a normal season?
The Lightning have the second-best odds to win the Cup at +750. They’re the second-most popular team in the market, as over 7% of the betting action is backing Tampa Bay. Winning a Stanley Cup is hard, winning two straight is extremely impressive, but winning three straight hasn’t happened in nearly 40 years. The last team to win three straight championships was the New York Islanders, who won four straight Cups from 1980-83.
The Florida Panthers have the second best record in the league and no team is scoring more goals per game than Florida. Jonathan Huberdeau is a Hart Trophy candidate while Sergei Bobrovsky has had a nice bounce back season between the pipes. Florida is +800 to win the Cup and nearly 7% of bets are backing the Cats.
The Vegas Golden Knights might look mediocre right now, but there’s a very good chance the team will look completely different come playoff time and the odds are definitely adjusting for that possibility. Currently, Vegas has put Mark Stone on LTIR and Robin Lehner is out with an injury. Lehner will hopefully be back shortly. Once the salary cap no longer applies in the playoffs and the Golden Knights have room under the cap ceiling, it’s expected Stone will return as well.
Vegas has yet to play with all their big names in the lineup at the same time since acquiring Jack Eichel. The salary cap will likely make that impossible during the regular season. However, in the playoffs, a lineup featuring Eichel, Stone, Max Pacioretty, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo and Lehner is possible. For that reason, Vegas is +850 to win the Cup.
The only other team with odds better than 10-to-1 are the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is a team that has failed to meet expectations for multiple seasons now and has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs many times. Earlier in the season, it appeared Jack Campbell was the answer to any goaltending question marks. However, his recent performances have once again made goaltending a concern for this group. The Leafs are +850 to win it all.
What are the odds for other teams?
When looking at the rest of the odds, only four other teams really piqued my interest.
Carolina Hurricanes: At 12-to-1, it feels like the Hurricanes are undervalued. It’ll be tough to get out of the East, but this is the fourth straight season where Carolina has been one of the better teams in the league but failed to get the job done in the playoffs. Will the Hurricanes finally be able to get over the hump this year?
Pittsburgh Penguins: Every year, you think it’ll be the year the Penguins fall off, but every year, they’re right in the thick of things. Mike Sullivan deserves credit for the work he’s done behind the bench, and it’s hard to fade a group led by Sidney Crosby. At 16-to-1, the price on the Penguins feels about right but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they made a run come May.
Calgary Flames: I wrote an article last week about the Calgary Flames, and their odds continue to move down. Now at 16-to-1, I still think Calgary has the second-best chance to come out of the West behind the Avalanche.
Minnesota Wild: There are really only three times that interest me in the West. I’ve mentioned the Avalanche and Flames, and I think the Wild are the only other team that can push them. The Wild are 18-to-1 to win the Cup.