NHL Futures Odds Show Tampa Bay Lightning As Stanley Cup Favorite

With the National Hockey League All Star Weekend in the ‘rear view mirror’ the teams and players are done with a much needed break and ready to get back to work. The second half of the NHL season is always very competitive with top contenders trying to build momentum for the postseason and ‘bubble teams’ trying to lock down a playoff berth. As we head into February the Tampa Bay Lightning currently are head and shoulders over the rest of the NHL. Tampa Bay has 76 points and are alone atop the NHL standings. The Calgary Flames are five points back and the only other team with more than 70 points as of this writing. No other team is within ten points of the red hot Lightning.

Tampa Bay is also the current NHL hockey betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup. As the current league table will suggest, the Lightning are at this point the strongest team in the NHL and have been installed as a +385 favorite to win the Stanley Cup. This is an extremely short price given the high quality of play in the league but currently only one other team is priced at single digit odds—the Toronto Maple Leafs at +700. The pricing on the Leafs might have as much to do with the popularity of hockey in Canada as anything else since Toronto is currently the #3 team in the East and has just the seventh best record overall.

Out West, there is a logjam among very solid teams including the Pacific Division leading Calgary Flames (+1000) and the Nashville Predators (+1000) who enter play after the All Star Break two points behind the Central Division leading Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are priced at +1150 along with the San Jose Sharks. The Vegas Golden Knights are +1300, the Pittsburgh Penguins are +1500 and both the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins are priced at +1700. No other team is priced lower than 23 to 1.

One obvious characteristic of the current season—things are really looking up for long suffering Canadian hockey fans. A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup in 25 years. The last Canadian cup winners *were* the Canadians–the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings to emerge victorious in 1993. There haven’t been many Canadian teams that have come close with only five reaching the finals in the past twenty five years. There have even been a few seasons of late where no Canadian teams have even made the playoffs. The fortunes of Canadian hockey teams are looking much better this season. Four Canada based teams are very likely to make the playoffs (Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg) and possibly as many as six should Edmonton and/or Vancouver qualify.

It’s not all good news for Canadian hockey fans, however, since the biggest longshot in the Stanley Cup futures betting odds is also from their country. The hapless Ottawa Senators are priced at +30000. The rest of the longshots include several names more accustomed to being at the top of the betting market including the Detroit Red Wings (+25000), New York Rangers (+20000), New Jersey Devils (+20000), Chicago Blackhawks (+20000) and Los Angeles Kings (+17500). Since 1994, this group of longshots has accounted for a total of 13 Stanley Cup Championships.

Here’s the full field rundown:

2019 STANLEY CUP CHAMPION FUTURES ODDS (AS OF 1/28/19)

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING +385
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS +700
CALGARY FLAMES +1000
NASHVILLE PREDATORS +1000
SAN JOSE SHARKS +1150
WINNIPEG JETS +1150
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS +1300
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS +1500
BOSTON BRUINS +1700
WASHINGTON CAPITALS +1700
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS +2300
MINNESOTA WILD +2500
NEW YORK ISLANDERS +2500
COLORADO AVALANCHE +3700
ST. LOUIS BLUES +4000
MONTREAL CANADIENS +4500
CAROLINA HURRICANES +5000
DALLAS STARS +5000
ARIZONA COYOTES +7500
BUFFALO SABRES +7500
ANAHEIM DUCKS +8000
EDMONTON OILERS +8000
FLORIDA PANTHERS +11500
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS +12500
VANCOUVER CANUCKS +12500
LOS ANGELES KINGS +17500
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS +20000
NEW JERSEY DEVILS +20000
NEW YORK RANGERS +20000
DETROIT RED WINGS +25000
OTTAWA SENATORS +30000