NHL Futures Odds Shakeup After Busy Start to Free Agent Signing

Monday was the start of the NHL’s free agent signing period and there was a frenzy of activity. While there should be more transactions forthcoming in the days ahead there were plenty of big names on the move on the first day of action. In some situations, it’s hard to evaluate what impact the loss or addition of free agents will have on a team. In others, however, it’s readily evident. As a result, the activity produced a shakeup in the NHL futures betting odds for the 2019-2020 Stanley Cup Champion.

One of the more precipitous drops in the futures betting market following the first day of free agent activity was suffered by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets pulled one of the major upsets of the 2018-2019 Stanley Cup playoffs when they eliminated the President Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning in a first round sweep. Columbus now has a couple of huge vacancies to fill. The Jackets lost the two best offensive players in the unrestricted free agent class as Artemi Panarin signed a 7 year deal with the New York Rangers and Matt Duchene agreed to a seven year deal with the Nashville Predators. The biggest hit, however, came in net where the Blue Jackets lost 2017 Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky signed a seven year deal with the Florida Panthers. The result of losing so much talent was a massive hit to Columbus’ odds of winning the Stanley Cup. Columbus is now tied with three other teams as the #23 choice in the betting market at a whopping +4000!

The Jackets’ loss was a boon to the teams on the receiving end of the free agent signings. The Nashville Predators inexplicably had the worst power play in the NHL last season. They needed another dependable scorer and top six forward and they got one in Matt Duchene. Duchene is a legit top six center who scored 31 goals last year with the Senators and Blue Jackets. He gives Nashville more depth down the middle and will help their scoring on the power play as well as 5 on 5. He’s a potential point per game player and makes the Predators all the more dangerous. As a result, Nashville saw their odds to win the Stanley Cup improve. The Predators were priced at +2200 immediately after the deal that sent defenseman P.K. Subban to the New Jersey Devils but with the acquisition of Duchene they’ve improved to +1600.

There are still plenty of questions about the Florida Panthers but it’s somewhat surprising that they didn’t get more of a boost from the signing of Sergey Bobrovsky. He’s a proven #1 goaltender and a workhorse at that who doesn’t like to take too many nights off. Florida had a void to fill when future Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo retired and they’ve more than filled it with Bobrovsky. The Panthers traded backup James Reimer to Carolina on June 30 so it’s Bobrovsky’s team now. Florida has two young goalie prospects in the organization and one could serve as Bobrovsky’s backup. The most likely choice is 22 year old Sam Montembeault who played in 11 games last season. In addition, the Panthers selected 18 year old Spencer Knight with the 13th overall pick in the recent NHL draft. Florida could be one of the big surprises of the 2019-2020 season with Joel Quinneville taking over as head coach. They sure seem to be a better team than the +2000 price on them would suggest.

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