The 2022 Stanley Cup hasn’t even been awarded yet, and you can already wager on who will win next year’s trophy. It’s wild.
With Thursday being an off day in the Stanley Cup Final, I figured it would be a solid time to take a peek at the odds and see if there are any potential value plays. First, let’s look at the top of the board, where there really aren’t any surprises.
The Colorado Avalanche open up as the favorites to win it all next season, coming in at +450. On one hand, I’m a little bit surprised that no one is even close to them on the board. On the other hand, they steamrolled their way through the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, and with over $20 million in cap space available to them, I could very well see them being just as competitive next year.
Next on the list is the Toronto Maple Leafs at +800. Don’t get it twisted, they are definitely not the second-best team in the NHL, but expected public money can sway these things. The Leafs have the largest fan base in the league, so they’re never going to be a value play.
The Lightning (+1000), the Panthers (+1100) and the Hurricanes (+1400) round out the top five.
The next Canadian team on the list is the Edmonton Oilers at +1600. That makes sense considering they made it all the way to the conference final this season. Last year, they opened up at around +2200 to win it all, so good progress for the Oilers.
My favorite play over at Pointsbet Canada though is the New York Rangers at +2000. That means if you were to wager $100 on the Rangers to win the Cup, it would pay out $2100.
This team made the conference final this season, and there is reason to expect that the Rangers will be better next year. Obviously, success is never guaranteed in the NHL, but the Rangers have all the key elements of a Stanley Cup winner.
They have an elite goaltender, a true No. 1 defenseman, elite forwards and solid depth. On top of that, they’re a very young team, and if players like Alex Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Braden Schneider and K’Andre Miller can all take steps forward next season, the Rangers could be even better.
With just $13 million in cap space, the Rangers may have to decide between Ryan Strome or Andrew Copp, but they could also make some extra money by moving on from Ryan Reaves or Patrik Nemeth.
I think they’re the best team in their division and deserve to be much higher than 10th on the odds board. You can check out all the odds over at Pointsbet Canada here: https://bit.ly/3mmP4Np
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