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A Look at the Updated Stanley Cup Futures as Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs Begins
By Joe Tansey
Published:
The second round of the NHL postseason begins on Monday night with all eight remaining teams at +1000 or less to hoist the Stanley Cup.
That’s a remarkable level of parity in comparison to the NBA, where only three teams are listed at +1000 or lower entering its second round.
Florida, Carolina, Dallas, and Edmonton, in that order, have the four lowest odds to win the Cup. Vegas, Toronto, Winnipeg and Washington are in the bottom half of the futures board right now.
Florida is the reigning champion and looked strong in its first-round win over Tampa Bay, so there’s no shame in hammering the +425 price going into the Toronto series.
The Maple Leafs are the ultimate “prove it to me” team. The Leafs haven’t won anything significant with their Core Four of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares.
It’s difficult to convince anyone to bet the Leafs to win the Cup when 1) They have to get past Florida just to reach the Eastern Conference Final and 2) It took them multiple attempts to close out Ottawa, a wild-card team, in the first round.
Carolina and Washington are going to be involved in a blood bath. Neither team is particularly flashy, and outside of Alex Ovechkin, there isn’t a ton of star power.
Both the Canes and Caps averaged 2.8 goals allowed per game in the regular season and they combined for a single concession over two goals in their eight first-round victories. I would look into betting the unders in the series, or to get real specific, blocked shots for the top defensemen because not a lot of shots should get through on goal.
Edmonton/Vegas is the flashy series. Connor McDavid. Leon Draisaitl. Jack Eichel.
It’s the most star-studded second-round series and the driving force to winning bets in that series is Edmonton’s defense, which was covered up by its star power in the first round against the Kings.
Sure, the Oilers have two of the best players on Earth in McDavid and Draisaitl, but they also gave up 4+ goals in four first-round games. I think the move here, if you’re eyeing the NHL on NJ betting apps or PA sports betting apps, is to bet Vegas at +650 to win the Cup. Dallas and Winnipeg are both banged up and who knows how much energy they’ll have left by the time the Conference Finals come around.
Both the Stars and Jets are missing a first-line forward and their top defensemen, Dallas is in better shape because Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen are closer to returning than Winnipeg’s recently-injured duo of Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey.
Unless Dallas gets through its second-round matchup in less than six games, I can see the overall attrition getting to them.
Dallas is the favorite to win the Western Conference at +200, but I would look into Vegas as a sneaky pick at +280, especially if the Golden Knights can get through Edmonton in less than six games.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.