It’s that time of year again. The NHL season is only two months away now, which is close enough for us to get excited, but also far enough for us to have time to analyze and think about everything detail of the upcoming season from favorites, best rookies, under the radar players, and anything in between. Today, we will touch on the top favorites to win the Stanley Cup this upcoming season.
Stanley Cup 2020 Odds
There were a few changes in player personnel with the NHL draft and the opening of free agency, with big names changing clubs. But, the main betting favorites remained pretty much the same. Tampa Bay Lightning is the heavy favorite with odds of +700. Next up are the Bruins, Leafs, and Knights, who all got odds of +1200 of winning the Stanley Cup. The least likely to win it are the Buffalo Sabres at +8000 and the Detroit Red Wings at +10000.
The Stanley Cup is one of the most popular sporting events, garnering plenty of betting action, especially amongst sharp bettors. If you also like to make NHL predictions and already know who your Stanley Cup favorite is, you can go to an online bookmaker such as William Hill (which is excellent for hockey betting), and place a bet on your winner. Despite losing popularity to the NBA, NFL, and MLB, the NHL still provides a great opportunity to place some profitable bets.
Now let’s take a closer look at each of the top favorites to win the cup.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Tamba Bay have been labeled as cup contenders in five of the last ten seasons, including four of the last five but they failed to materialize that into a win each time. Can they finally change their luck this time around?
The Lightning will be one of the strongest teams of the NHL next season. They finished top of the Atlantic Division last year and will look to improve on that, and possibly winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since the 2003-2004 season.
Boston Bruins
After losing the Stanley Cup in 2019 in a seven-game series against the St.Louis Blues, the Bruins will look to bounce back in the following season.
Counting on the fact that they will keep their young restricted free agent defensemen, Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy, the Bruins will remain almost unchanged compared to last year’s team that was one game shy of winning it all, and considering that their award-winning GM Don Sweeney is known for making great in-season adjustments, especially around the trade deadline, it is fair to assume that the Bruins will have a strong campaign in 2019-20 too.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto had a disappointing season last year, losing in the first round to the Bruins, and they have been fairly active this off-season, including a massive trade with the Avs in which they traded Nazem Kadri for Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Barrie. They also did a defenseman swap with the Senators. So far, they have been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement with RFA Mitch Marner, who is more and more likely to leave.
All in all, the Leafs have one of the deepest rosters in the league and have elite players across all positions, which immediately makes them one of the favorites.
It is hard to say who has the best chance out of these teams at this point, and everything can change until the trade deadline, where perhaps some other teams can also join the picture. For now, though, we think that these three teams have the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup in 2020.
There is a western conference….