How to bet Stanley Cup Futures
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We’re a week into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and we’re starting to get a feel of which teams are legit contenders and which are likely headed for an early tee time. I made three future bets before the puck dropped on the Stanley Cup playoffs and I’m not coming off of those teams. The odds have changed considerably but there’s still value out there and there are ways to get creative with your bets.
Below are my favorite NHL Stanley Cup future bets using the odds at the Tipico Sportsbook. Make sure you download their app for the latest odds. If you’re looking for more bets this season, check out the FTN Bet Tracker at FTNBets.com.
Colorado Avalanche +320
The Avalanche are heavy favorites as they head into Game 3 against the St. Louis Blues with a 2-0 series lead. They opened up the 2021 season as Stanley Cup favorites (+800) and they began the playoffs as favorites (+450). This is a bet I’ve been behind since September and it was placed in our FTN Bet Tracker before the season started.
I already liked the Avs’ young core, but they added two solid pieces in the offseason in Brandon Saad and Devon Toews that solidified things for me. Saad only had 24 points in 44 games with Colorado during the regular season, but he had 15 goals and 13 at 5v5. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has always had a strong 5v5 game and that carried over in his first season with the Avalanche as his 1.49 GF/60 at 5v5 ranked fifth in the NHL and first on the Avs. Toews scored a career-high nine goals and 31 points in 53 games. He also averaged a career-high 24:46 per game as he ate up some big minutes for Colorado when Cale Makar missed time. The duo has looked like one of if not the best d-pair in the league.
The Avs are absolutely loaded on offense but it starts at the back-end with Makar, Toews and Samuel Girard. All three can skate like the wind and they are all fantastic puck-moving defensemen. Colorado not only ranked first in goals overall and at 5v5/60, but they allowed the third fewest goals and the third fewest at 5v5/60. They were inside the top five in high-danger chances for at even strength and only Minnesota allowed fewer high-danger chances than Colorado. They had a top-10 power play and a top-five penalty kill in the regular season as well.
Many point to the goaltending as the weakest link on the Avs and while that may be true it’s not that weak at all. Philipp Grubauer’s .921 SV% ranked fourth among goalies with 1,800 minutes played at 5v5 and his 1.87 GAA at even strength was behind only Andrei Vasilevskiy for the league lead.
Colorado seems to be making quick work of the 2019 Stanley Cup champion Blues as the series shifts to St. Louis. There should be a push back from STL but the Avs are too strong not to get by them. Nathan MacKinnon has five goals and seven points to go along with 10 shots on goal. His line with Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog have combined for six goals and 16 points. At +330 there’s not a lot of value here but you could include this into a parlay to make it worth your time.
Vegas Golden Knights +480
The Golden Knights are the second-biggest favorites to win the Stanley Cup at +480. There’s still a bit of value with Vegas but I’d only consider them if you already have a future on the Avalanche and you’re looking to protect your investment. This is something I did back in February at 10-1.
I truly believe the best two teams in the NHL are the Avalanche and Golden Knights. The problem is, these two teams are possibly headed for a second round matchup. This means we’re going to lose one of these teams early into the Stanley Cup playoffs. It also means one of these two teams will be four wins away from going to the Stanley Cup finals.
If it were the Golden Knights or the Avalanche advancing to the third round, there’s a decent chance that their opponent would be the winner of a much weaker North Division. We can’t look too far ahead but that’s a plus.
Like Colorado, Vegas has all the pieces and are just a couple years away from reaching the finals. They are not as strong down the middle as Colorado, but they have stronger wings, they’re more experienced and are stronger between the pipes. Vegas allowed the fewest goals this season and they had the game’s best penalty kill. They also ranked second in goals for at 5v5/60.
They’re currently up 2-1 on a Minnesota team that allowed the fewest high-danger chances at 5v5 in the regular season. Through three games of the playoffs, only the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning have allowed more rubber per 60 minutes than the Wild. Vegas has looked like the much superior team and they’re doing it without their leading goal scorer in Max Pacioretty who is expected to return soon.
Carolina Hurricanes +550
The third and final Stanley Cup future I have in my back pocket that I encourage everyone to consider is the Carolina Hurricanes. They were 33-1 to open up the 2021 season and they began the Stanley Cup playoffs at 7-1. Carolina has the 2-0 series lead on Nashville, so they enter the weekend at +550.
The Hurricanes should be able to get by Nashville pretty early in the first round as they’ve taken eight of the 10 matchups against them this season. The two games they lost to the Predators came at the end of the season when they were resting some of their starters. The second-round opponent of either Tampa Bay or Florida will be extremely tough for the Hurricanes but one thing they have going for them is the fact they’ll have home ice throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs should they make it that far. Carolina had a sparkling 20-3-5 record on home ice as no team had fewer regulation losses at home than the Hurricanes. They’ve also had close to a full house at each of their first two home games, which is a massive edge. Don’t underestimate the importance of home ice advantage in the playoffs.
Carolina has one of the strongest 5v5 games in the league and their special teams are among the best. They wrapped up the regular season with the second-best power play and the third-best penalty kill. They have the edge on every team they play when it comes to special teams as no other squad ranked inside the top three in both categories.
Three goalies basically chipped in for them this season and all three were great as the team finished first in GA/60 (1.79). It was rookie Alex Nedeljkovic who got the start in Game 1, though, and while it may have seemed like a bold call by head coach Rod Brind'amour, it was the right choice as his .945 SV% at 5v5 this season was tied with Juuse Saros for the best mark in the league. Unfortunately for Saros, he doesn’t have the same offensive support as Nedeljkovic. No team generated more high danger scoring chances at 5v5 than the Hurricanes.
Longshots: Boston Bruins +750; Pittsburgh Penguins +1000; Florida Panthers +2000
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