The All-Star break is over and most teams are settling in for the stretch drive in the NHL. It is time to take a look at the favorites for the 2012 Stanley Cup \u2013 who is a safe bet and who may surprise. <\/p>\n
Stanley Cup Futures \u2013 Taking a look at the Favorites half way through the season.<\/strong><\/p>\n The usual suspects are ever-present but there are a few long shot teams from the beginning of the year that have made themselves heard through the first half of this season.<\/p>\n Below is a breakdown of all of the top contenders with the favorite at the top and so on. Keep in mind that all of these teams will be looking to make a splash at the Trade Deadline at the end of February so these predictions could change.<\/p>\n Boston Bruins +600<\/strong><\/p>\n Ahh, the Boston bruins. It is pretty hard to argue that they are the favorites to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. Goaltending alone gives them a leg up on almost every team in the NHL (Vancouver being the possible exception). As it stands, you have to look pretty hard to find a statistical category in which the Bruins don\u2019t occupy a Top 10 spot \u2013 the most important being goals for and goals against.<\/p>\n Boston has a solid defense corp., good forward depth, coaching, experience and everything needed to be a contender. Health down the stretch will be critical down the stretch \u2013 like most teams a key injury or two could seriously hamper their Cup aspirations.<\/p>\n Vancouver Canucks +650<\/strong><\/p>\n The Vancouver Canucks are once again challenging for the Top spot in the NHL \u2013 for good reason. Although the team has shown that they can deliver the occasional Dud, they are still deep on defense, at forward and between the pipes. In their last four games against the NHL elite (Detroit, Chicago, San Jose and Boston); the Canucks have gone 3-0-1 \u2013 proof that this team has a knack of rising to the occasion.<\/p>\n Even when Vancouver is struggling, they still find a way to win. Nothing less than a Cup will do in Vancouver \u2013 the motivation combined with the sheer talent will make this team a serious contender once again.<\/p>\n Detroit Red Wings +650<\/strong><\/p>\n The Detroit Red Wings, as of February 7th, are leading the NHL standings \u2013 17 straight wins at home \u2013 ya \u2013 17 have helped them reach the pinnacle. The Wings are an experienced team, with talent to spare. The oddsmakers have it right \u2013 the Wings and Canucks will be in a dogfight to represent the West!<\/p>\n New York Rangers +700<\/strong><\/p>\n The Rangers sit atop the Eastern Conference standings and have been there almost from the outset of the season. Brad Richards has made an enormous impact on that team \u2013 Marion Gaborik looks reborn and some of the role players from last year\u2019s team are allowed to be just that \u2013 role players.<\/p>\n But this team\u2019s success begins and ends with Henrik Lundqvist \u2013 the best goaltender in the NHL today. If goaltending wins championships then the Rangers are a frightening team.<\/p>\n San Jose Sharks +950<\/strong><\/p>\n The San Jose Sharks are once again in the mix in the Western Conference but their \u201cchoke reputation\u201d is not going away. True they have some good pieces but to think that they are as complete as the Canucks or the Wings in the West is ridiculous. If you can\u2019t get out of the Western Conference, you can\u2019t win the Cup!<\/p>\n St Louis Blues +1400<\/strong><\/p>\n This team has come out of nowhere largely thanks to an incredible 22-3-4 record on home ice. But the Blues will likely end up on the road for all of their playoff series. They are 8-11-3 away from home. The Blues have been a nice story but there is no way that they will be hoisting the Stanley Cup this year!<\/p>\n Nashville Predators +1500<\/strong><\/p>\n You gotta love the job that Barry Trotz and company do year in and year out with this team. They are always in contention despite having one of the least intimidating rosters in the Western Conference. Pekka Rinne, as of January 7th has won 11 straight games and 20 of his last 22 while the offense has found another gear as well. The Predators came close last year to getting to the Conference Final and they are much improved this year.<\/p>\n The Preds are a dark horse but an intriguing one! [ad-4437448]<\/p>\n Philadelphia Flyers +1000<\/strong><\/p>\n The Flyers have been decimated by the concussion bug this season \u2013 no less than four regulars currently sit on IR with no timetable for return. With high end talent uncertain to return and with Ilya Bryzgalov looking like one of the worst free agent signings of the year, the Flyers look less likely to make any more noise than they did last year.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Penguins +1000<\/strong><\/p>\n The Penguins chances of winning a Cup are completely tied to the health of one man. Although Sidney Crosby has been skating lately, there is no guarantee that he returns this season. Even if he does return, will he be the same?<\/p>\n Chicago Blackhawks +1200<\/strong><\/p>\n The Hawks have some serious goaltending issues – not a good sign heading into the playoffs. They are deep and talented on defense and on offense but if they can\u2019t keep the puck out of the net, they can\u2019t be trusted.<\/p>\n Washington Capitals +2000<\/strong><\/p>\n At least the Caps looked good in the Regular Season in the last couple of years. But this season, they aren\u2019t even in a playoff spot half way through the season \u2013 not good! Thomas Vokoun doesn\u2019t`t seem to be the answer in goal and Alex Ovechkin appears to be a shadow of his former self. With character issues on the team, Washington appears headed for yet another short post season.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that with the Trade Deadline coming up at the end of this month, things may change \u2013 all of the contenders will be looking to upgrade in some form or another. As of right now the East seems to be a two horse race \u2013 Boston and the Rangers while the West is the same \u2013 Vancouver and Detroit are the class of the Conference.<\/p>\n Ready to bet on some 2012 Stanley Cup championship future odds. Here is our February NHL Wagering preview along with the odds for the top NHL hockey title contenders for the 2012 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":22848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[39626,49878,49879,49881,1957,3978,49880,3207,49882,49883,1968],"class_list":["post-48035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","tag-39626","tag-bet-on-2012-stanley-cup-odds","tag-future-nhl-champions","tag-hockey-gambling-picks","tag-nhl-betting","tag-nhl-future-odds","tag-nhl-hockey-futures","tag-nhl-predictions","tag-nhl-vegas-odds","tag-odds-to-win-2012-stanley-cup","tag-stanley-cup-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48086,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48035\/revisions\/48086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}TOP CONTENDERS:<\/h3>\n
STOCK RISING:<\/h3>\n
STOCK FALLING:<\/h3>\n
Looking for Sports Picks for all today’s Gambling Matchups? CLICK HERE!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"