Tag: NHL Futures

NHL Picks and Best Bets: 2019-20 Stanley Cup Champions

Looking at the NHL betting odds to win the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Final, with NHL futures picks and best bets.

The 2019-20 Stanley Cup will be up for grabs later this summer as the NHL season resumes with a 24-team playoff structure. The expanded postseason has opened up the odds, providing greater profit margins for sports bettors. Below, we’ll look at the Stanley Cup futures odds, and make our picks and best bets at BetMGM.

2019-20 Stanley Cup Champions Odds: Favorite

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list.
Odds last updated Thursday, May 28 at 2:40 p.m. ET.

St. Louis Blues (+1000)

The defending Stanley Cup champions finished the abbreviated regular season atop the ultra-competitive Central Division at 42-19-10 for 94 points through 71 games. They scored 225 goals and allowed just 193, all without star RW Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) for the majority of the season.

Tarasenko will return following the break and unlike most teams who try to defend a Stanley Cup title, the Blues are plenty rested after going the distance in 2018-19. The pressure has also faded, at least slightly, due to the prolonged break.

The Blues are only sixth by the odds to win the Cup despite finishing first in the Western Conference and receiving a Qualification Round bye. They’re a strong pick as the first team with odds of 10/1 or higher.

New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Blues to win the Stanley Cup returns a profit of $100.

Get some action on the NHL playoffs by placing a legal sports bet (in NJ, IN, CO and WV) at BetMGM.com.

2019-20 Stanley Cup Champions Odds: Contender

Edmonton Oilers (+2300)

The extended mid-season interruption will help level the competitive playing field for all 24 teams in the expanded playoffs. For this reason, it’s smart to trust the Oilers, who are led by C Connor McDavid and C Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl and McDavid finished 1-2 in both points and assists in the regular season, and they’ll be able to take advantage of any team showing signs of rust defensively.

Believe in the raw talent of the Oilers’ two stars as they’ll look to outscore the competition in what’s sure to be a more wide-open playoff-style than to which we’re accustomed.

2019-20 Stanley Cup Champions Odds: Long shot

Florida Panthers (+6500)

Alternatively, look at the Panthers as your Stanley Cup dart throw. They ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference with 231 goals in the regular season while going 35-26-8. G Sergei Bobrovsky, a marquee free-agent addition, struggled through 50 games to post a .900 save percentage and a 3.23 goals against average.

The two-time Vezina Trophy winner is the biggest X-factor in this new playoff structure. The break has given him plenty of time to regroup and move past his regular-season struggles. If he can return to form, the Panthers could be vaulted into a long postseason run.

Want some action in the 2019-20 NHL Playoffs? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter, and follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook. Please gamble responsibly.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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NHL Picks and Best Bets: 2019-20 Western Conference Champions

Looking at the NHL futures betting odds to win the Western Conference, with picks and best bets for the 2019-20 NHL playoffs.

The NHL betting odds to win the Western Conference have been shaken up following the league’s announcement of a 24-team playoff format set to begin later this summer. Below, we make our picks and best bets to win the Western Conference and advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

2019-20 NHL Western Conference Odds: Favorites

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list.
Odds last updated Thursday, May 28 at 2:20 p.m. ET.

TEAM ODDS
Colorado Avalanche +325
Vegas Golden Knights +350
St. Louis Blues +450
Dallas Stars +650

Colorado Avalanche (+325)

The Avalanche sat first or second in the Central Division for much of the 2019-20 campaign and finished the abbreviated regular season with 92 points in 70 games (42-20-8). Their plus-46 goal differential was the best in the Western Conference and their 237 goals scored were nine more than any other team in the conference.

The Avs were one of the most-heavily injury-ridden teams in the league at the time of the pause. C Nathan MacKinnon (lower body), RW Mikko Rantanen (upper body), C Nazem Kadri (lower body) and G Philipp Grubauer (lower body) were just a few who may have been in jeopardy for the beginning of a mid-April postseason. All are now expected to be back to full health.

The favorites in the West are well worth backing. A $10 bet will return a profit of $32.50 is they advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas Golden Knights (+350)

Like the Avalanche, the Golden Knights are heavy favorites to make it out of the West. Las Vegas is a finalist to be named as a hub city for the postseason, potentially giving the Knights a key home-ice advantage.

Vegas went 39-24-8 through 71 games to finish atop the Pacific Division. RW Mark Stone (lower body), LW Max Pacioretty (lower body) and C Chandler Stephenson (upper body) should all be back in the lineup, giving the Golden Knights one of the deepest forward groups in the league.

Get some action on the NHL playoffs by placing a legal sports bet (in NJ, IN, CO and WV) at BetMGM.com.

2019-20 NHL Western Conference Odds: Long shots

TEAM ODDS
Edmonton Oilers +1000
Calgary Flames +1400
Nashville Predators +1400
Vancouver Canucks +1700
Minnesota Wild +1800
Arizona Coyotes +2000
Winnipeg Jets +2400
Chicago Blackhawks +5000

Edmonton Oilers (+1000)

I chased value in my Eastern Conference picks, targeting strong goaltending and long shots with inflated odds. In the West, it’s all about the favorites with the odds being much more condensed.

C Leon Draisaitl and C Connor McDavid finished 1-2 in both points and assists in the regular season. They’ll draw the 12th-seeded Blackhawks in the Qualification Round and are heavily favored to advance to Round 1 of the 16-team playoffs.

Want some action in the 2019-20 NHL Playoffs? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter, and follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook. Please gamble responsibly.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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NHL Picks and Best Bets: 2019-20 Eastern Conference Champions

Looking at updated NHL futures betting odds for the 2019-20 playoffs, with picks and best bets to be crowned Eastern Conference Champions.

The 2019-20 NHL regular season is officially over and hockey fans now wait for a 24-team playoff format to begin later this summer. The interruption in the NHL has created a never-before-seen wrinkle in the hunt for the Stanley Cup. Below, we’ll look at the betting odds to win the Eastern Conference and make our picks and best bets to make it to the Stanley Cup final.

2019-20 NHL Eastern Conference Odds: Favorites

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list.
Odds last updated Thursday, May 28 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

TEAM ODDS
Boston Bruins +300
Tampa Bay Lightning +300
Philadelphia Flyers +450
Washington Capitals +450

Tampa Bay Lightning (+300)

The Lightning suffered one of the worst playoffs collapses on memory a year ago. The Presidents’ Trophy champions were swept in four games in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets while being outscored 19-8.

The lengthy pause in the 2019-20 NHL season has allowed C Steven Stamkos (abdomen) and D Victor Hedman (lower body) to return to full health. Heavily-used starting G Andrei Vasilevskiy will also be well-rested and back in top form after seeming to tire out in last year’s postseason.

The Lightning led the league with 245 goals scored in 70 games. Only the Bruins (plus-53) had a better goal differential than the Lightning’s plus-50. Look for them to use the extended time off and a Qualification Round bye to correct their wrongs from 2018-19.

New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Lightning to win the Eastern Conference returns a profit of $30.

Get some action on the NHL playoffs by placing a legal sports bet (in NJ, IN, CO and WV) at BetMGM.com.

2019-20 NHL Eastern Conference Odds: Long shots

TEAM ODDS
Pittsburgh Penguins +1100
Toronto Maple Leafs +1700
New York Islanders +2200
New York Rangers +2200
Carolina Hurricanes +2400
Blue Jackets +2800
Florida Panthers +2800
Montreal Canadiens +5000

Columbus Blue Jackets (+2800)

The Blue Jackets loaded up at the 2018-19 NHL trade deadline and went on to win the franchise’s first playoff series since entering the league in 2000-01. Things seemed to fall apart in the offseason, as C Matt Duchene, C Ryan Dzingel and G Sergei Bobrovsky all departed via free agency.

The Jackets may have been destined to miss the playoffs under a normal 16-team format, as they sat at 33-22-15 through 70 games. They suffered a league-worst 15 overtime losses, including a 0-4 record in shootouts.

The goaltending tandem of Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins will be the biggest key to a long postseason run. They posted save percentages of .911 and .923, respectively, in the regular season. They’ll be matched up against the Maple Leafs in the Qualification Round, but they may have the home-ice advantage as a final contender to be a postseason hub city.

Florida Panthers (+2800)

The free-agent addition of Bobrovsky in goal was supposed to help turn the Panthers around and make them a frontrunner in the Eastern Conference for the better part of the next 10 seasons. However, the former Vezina Trophy winner played to a save percentage of just .900 with a 3.23 goals against average across his first 50 games of the season and the Panthers sat at 35-26-8 at the pause.

A good Bobrovsky is still a top-four goaltender in the East and the Panthers have one of the deepest forward groups in the conference. Trusting goaltending and backing long shots will be the key to turning a profit at the sportsbooks in these unprecedented NHL playoffs.

Want some action in the 2019-20 NHL Playoffs? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren on Twitter, and follow SportsbookWire on Twitter and Facebook. Please gamble responsibly.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Midseason 2019-20 Western Conference future odds, picks and best bets

Analyzing the NHL future odds to win the 2019-20 Western Conference, with NHL betting picks, tips and best bets.

With the NHL All-Star weekend and bye weeks in the rear-view mirror and the league’s Feb. 24 trade deadline nearing, it’s a good time to check in on the NHL futures market. Let’s check in on a couple favorites and a couple longshots on the board for winning the Western Conference.

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Monday at 11 p.m. ET.

2019-20 Western Conference favorites

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington. (Photo Credit: James Carey Lauder – USA TODAY Sports)

St. Louis Blues (+360)

The defending Stanley Cup champions don’t need a miraculous second-half turnaround to vault into spring-time bracket play this year. St. Louis is leading the tough Central Division and should be in position for a slew of home games on the Western Conference side of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Blues are a deep team, and with D Alex Pietrangelo leading the way, the St. Louis power play has been clicking along at a 24.4% success rate. The wild card with the Blues is star RW Vladimir Tarasenko. The steady winger has been out since having shoulder surgery in late October. He could return late in the regular season or just in time for the playoffs. That could effectively make him the best acquisition any contender could be making for the stretch run.

Colorado Avalanche (+400)

Nathan MacKinnon and company are leading the Western Conference with 3.64 goals per game. Over the last couple months, Colorado has overtaken St. Louis on the analytics side – the puck-possession and shot-position numbers underpinning goals for, goals against, wins and losses.

The Avs’ power play would figure to have some upside. Colorado ranks 22nd in the NHL with an 18.9% conversion rate. Something close to the 22% (seventh) the team posted last season would be tremendously impactful.

Of all the contenders, the Avalanche have the most available salary cap space, too. That could mean a significant add at the trade deadline. Some veteran blue-line help would make sense. Of the top four or five favorites in the West, Colorado’s +400 price has the best value.

Place a sports bet on the 2019-20 Stanley Cup winner or other NHL games at BetMGM.

2019-20 Western Conference longshots

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom. (Photo credit: Neville E. Guard – USA TODAY Sports)

Vancouver Canucks (+1100)

The Canucks are solidly in the playoff picture, and they’re a couple clicks south of their Pythagorean expectation (comparing goals against goals allowed to predict a won-loss record).

Goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been sharp for long stretches and can be a sneaky-good weapon come playoff time. Despite having a lot of young players in key slots, the team as a whole fits that same M.O. If Vancouver can put it all together more consistently, the makings of a team that can make a run are there. GM Jim Benning may not have many attractive draft picks to play with when it comes to trade talks, so the current squad might not get much of a boost from the outside.

Chicago Blackhawks (+2200)

The Chicago Blackhawks are a fun bad-defense-good-goaltending mix of youth and seasoned vets which is surging offensively (3.70 GPG since Dec. 18).  Playing in a balanced, less top-heavy conference, the ‘Hawks could turn out to be a fun bag of mystery fireworks at their current outsider-looking-in price.

Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Midseason 2019-20 Stanley Cup future odds, picks and best bets

Analyzing the NHL future odds to win the 2019-20 Stanley Cup, with NHL betting picks, tips and best bets.

Contenders have started to separate themselves from the pretenders as the NHL comes off its 2019-20 All-Star break and the regular season heads into the stretch run ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Below, we analyze the NHL futures odds and make our picks and best bets to be crowned Stanley Cup champions in mid-June.

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list.
Odds last updated Monday at 1:20 p.m. ET.

2019-20 Stanley Cup favorites

Tampa Bay Lightning (+800)

Last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners are back to form after a poor start to their 2019-20 campaign. The Lightning have surged into second place in the Atlantic Division and fourth place in Eastern Conference through 52 games. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy has improved month-over-month and posted an other-worldly .948 save percentage and 1.58 goals against average over 10 games in January.

The Lightning lead the league in 5-on-5 scoring-chance percentage since Dec. 1 and rank third by Corsi For Percentage (total shot attempts). These odds aren’t great with this much time left in the season, but they’re likely to only go down from here.

Vegas Golden Knights (+1700)

The Golden Knights, who fired head coach Gerard Gallant Jan. 15, have the league’s best Corsi rating since Dec. 1. Puck luck has been a real issue for the NHL’s youngest franchise, as the Golden Knights rank 24th by PDO (shooting percentage plus save percentage) at 5-on-5 with a .989 mark.

Goalies Marc-Andre Fleury, Malcolm Subban, Garret Sparks and Oscar Dansk have combined for a .903 SV%, but Fleury should take over down the stretch run in an attempt to pass the overachieving Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division.

Place a sports bet on the 2019-20 Stanley Cup winner or other NHL games at BetMGM.

2019-20 Stanley Cup longshots

Feb 1, 2020; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) clears the puck during the first period against Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. (Photo Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern – USA TODAY Sports)

Florida Panthers (+2500)

The Panthers will likely need to rely on a wild-card berth for a postseason spot, as it’s difficult to see them surpassing any of the Boston Bruins, Lightning or Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division. They rank second behind the Lightning, by PDO since Dec. 1, but are still just 17th on the season as a whole.

Highly paid G Sergei Bobrovsky was much better in December and January following an awful start to his tenure in Florida. If the two-time Vezina Trophy winner can return to true form, Florida’s fourth-ranked offense could become even more dangerous.

Philadelphia Flyers (+3500)

The Flyers offer a 35-1 return on your investment and that’s as high as bettors should be looking with a realistic chance of cashing this bet. The Flyers are tied for fifth in the Metropolitan Division with the Carolina Hurricanes, but the two teams are tied for ninth in the NHL (ahead of both the Golden Knights and Panthers) with 63 points through 52 games each. The Hurricanes are priced at +1650, making the Flyers an incredible value.

Want some action in this one? Place a bet at BetMGM now. For more sports betting tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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