Early April marks the start for 16 of the NHL’s top team’s quest to win a Stanley Cup title. While they have all proved they belong in this tournament with their play in the regular season, only one will be good enough to bring the home the Cup at the end of a grueling two-month postseason run. The following are five teams that offer quite a bit of value in their NHL futures odds to get the job done as released by MyBookie.
Chicago Blackhawks +500
No disrespect to the Washington Capitals as +350 favorites at the top of the list, but Chicago earned a spot at the top of my list given its proven ability to win NHL titles. While the Capitals have repeatedly bowed out of the playoffs in the early rounds the past several seasons, the Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup three times since the 2009/2010 season.
This year’s team is poised to make another deep run at the Cup after posting the most points in the Western Conference this season (109). The trio of Patrick Kane, Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Toews combined to score 86 goals in the regular season and while Corey Crawford has had his ups and downs in goal, he still has a vast amount of playoff experience on his side.
Columbus Blue Jackets +580
The low betting odds alone show you just how dangerous this team can be in the postseason even though Columbus is up against the defending NHL Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round. Either team has what it takes to get past Washington further down the road, but I think that the Blue Jackets have just a few more weapons to get past the banged-up Penguin in this opening best-of-seven battle.
Columbus is already battle-tested playing in the highly competitive Metro Division and it has a solid balance between scorings goals and stopping them. The difference maker for the Blue Jackets could be goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a league-best .933 save percentage.
Minnesota Wild +580
The Wild had the inside track to the top seed in the West until they got derailed in March with a string of 11 losses in 13 games. They did get back on track in April with a four-game winning streak to close out the regular season. If Minnesota can regain its peak form on both ends of the ice in the postseason, it would be hard to see any other team stand in its way towards winning the Cup, but that is still a big if.
Minnesota will have to first get over its playoff hump against St. Louis in the opening round and Chicago will still be in its way somewhere down the road. However, with an offense that averaged 3.2 GPP in the regular season backed up by Devan Dubnyk in goal, the Wild belong on this list.
Edmonton Oilers +1000
If you are looking to stretch the odds a bit with a Canadian team that does have what it takes to end its country’s Stanley Cup title drought, I would move the Oilers to the top of the list. They finished second to Anaheim in the Pacific Division with 103 points behind balanced play on both ends of the ice. Offensively, Edmonton averaged three goals a game and on defense it held its opponents to 2.5 goals.
The main reason you almost have to throw the Oilers in the mix is center Connor McDavid, who could be the second coming of Wayne Gretzky for this franchise. Along with his 100 points on the year, I also like Cam Talbot as a reliable workhorse in goal with 42 wins in 73 starts.
Ottawa Senators +1600
Ottawa is another team that brings some hope to the Great White North when it comes to bringing home a title. It will go up against Boston in the opening round and this is another series where the winner will be one of those teams that nobody wants to face in the later rounds. I like the Senators in the role of home underdogs against the Bruins when it comes to the series price given their success against their rivals in the regular season with a 4-0 series sweep.
This is definitely not a flashy team that is going to beat you scoring goals, but it is a scrappy team that knows how to keep games close enough to win. It would be an incredible ride for this team to even get to the conference finals, but at longer odds the value is there.