Betting NHL Futures?
Free agency is just on the horizon but teams have already been making moves in attempts to better themselves when the NHL season kicks off in October.
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Coaching changes, compliance buyouts and the occasional trade have already takes place and although teams will continue to retool themselves as the summer wears on, there are some clear-cut favorites already to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2015.
Let’s take a peek into some of the favorites and why they are considered by Vegas to be front-runners. Let’s also identify a sleeper that could provide a handsome payday next June. Odds from Bovada.
Chicago Blackhawks 7/1
The Blackhawks will have a tough road to the Cup in 2014-2015 – the West is going to be a horse-race right up until the end. What stands out about Chicago is the fact that they came within one goal of playing for the Cup this year despite not playing their best. They have two Cups in five seasons and will enter 2014-2015 will largely the same lineup that has been tops in the league for the better part of a decade.
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Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are a young corp. – the envy of nearly all teams in the NHL. The playoff pedigree should also serve them well. There are some questions about who will fill the #2 center role for the team but trust Coach Joel Quenville to have the answers next year. Corey Crawford is also a question mark but his experience and ability to raise his game makes the question marks moot at best.
Boston Bruins 8/1
The Bruins are still the best team in the East despite what happens in the offseason. They have a tremendous playoff pedigree, they have the best defense in the game and their formula for success is shared by only a couple of teams in the NHL. Boston was the best team during the regular season in 2013-2014 – there a few if any holes on this team.
Minor changes are bound to take place as Boston’s incredible management attempts to get quicker especially up front. But as long as Tuukka Rask is patrolling the crease, Zdeno Chara is anchoring the blue line and as long as Boston keeps trotting out four stellar lines they will be hard to beat.
Boston should come out of the East in 2015 – the added motivation of an early departure in the 2014 playoffs will only add fuel to the fire. Boston is a tremendous side and deserves consideration for sure.
Los Angeles Kings 9/1
The Kings seem to be the quintessential playoff team – gritty, defensive minded and able to put their bodies on the line when it counts most. This is a team that won the Cup for the second time in three years despite not having Jonathan Quick at his best.
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Going against the Kings is the Western Conference and the fact that they will have to get by Chicago with whom they have alternated Cups with the last three years – 2014-2015 represents seems like Chicago’s turn to win the West.
A bet for any team in the West is a risk – the Conference figures to be that good. There is no shame in throwing down on LA although my thought is that they used up all their Cup karma this year. It is uber-difficult to repeat – 2014-2015 will be further proof.
Pittsburgh Penguins 10/1
You have to think that Sidney Crosby will figure it all out and exorcise his playoff demons sooner rather than later and when he does the Pens will be a difficult out in the East. A change in culture has come in the form of a new General Manager and a new coach (which hasn’t been named yet).
Any team with Sid and Evgeni Malkin deserves consideration – at 10/1 they are certainly intriguing.
Montreal Canadiens 20/1
Here’s you sleeper. The Habs will enter 2014-2015 with arguably the best keeper in the game – Carey Price and the best defenseman in the league – PK Subban. Look for the Habs to make some moves in the offseason – Thomas Vanek may not be back but Andrei Markov has re-signed.
Have faith in the Montreal management to put some pieces in place to keep this team relevant.
Montreal plays in the weakish East – outside of a freak injury to Carey Price they may have made the Final this year. I like the Habs to emerge as a contender against next year and make things interesting for their legion of backers.
The Cup has to return to Canada at some point – Montreal is the best chance for that to happen.
