A Look At The 2013-14 NHL Odds

Evgeni Malkin is part of the reason why Vegas favors the Penguins to win it all this year. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

There is no gambling offseason

While the release of the NHL schedule a few weeks back got die hard hockey fans hearts’ racing, the release of Vegas’ Stanley Cup odds pulls the same trick for the die hard hockey gamblers out there. You can find these odds anywhere on the internet, and they will probably all vary to some degree so the numbers I am going with are from 5dimes.eu. Here is a look at some of the more interesting NHL futures odds:

First off lets look at the Florida Panthers. Vegas is predicting the Panthers to be the worst team in the league again which is not good new for Panther fans but we are a resilient bunch and it is way to early to let anything dent our optimism-body-armour that we don through the first few months of the season. Here are some Panther related odds:

Win the Stanley Cup: +17,500 (that means if you put 100 hockey pucks on the Panthers to win the Cup, you would win 17,500 hockey pucks…thats a lot of hockey pucks)

Win Eastern Conference: +7,000

Florida Panthers vs. Calgary Flames Stanley Cup Final: +610,000

The Panthers have the longest odds of winning the cup, 175 to 1. The team with the next longest odds is the Calgary Flames at 150 to 1. Thus the Flames vs Panthers final has the smallest chance of occurring, according to Vegas, thus the ridiculous payout if such a matchup occurs.

Here are some other interesting odds:

Top Five Cup Favorites:

Penguins +625

Blackhawks +700

Bruins +1000

Kings +1300

Blues +1350

Top Five Cup Longshots:

Panthers +17500

Flames +15000

Sabres +10000

Coyotes +8000

Avalanche +7500

Overvalued/Undervalued:

• I won’t say that the Panthers are undervalued, I recognized that I have no perspective when it comes to the Panthers, but I will say that I 100% do not expect Florida to have the worst record in the league for a second straight year. Vegas thinks they will..oh well, agree to disagree.
• I think the Bruins are definitely overvalued. I think Vegas is aware of New England’s napoleonic hubris which they can take advantage of by giving the Bruins shorter odds than they deserve.
• Do the St. Louis Blues really have the fifth best shot at winning the Cup? I certainly don’t see it that way, but maybe I just do not watch enough Western Conference Hockey

If you have any thoughts about how Vegas sees this season shaking out let us know in the comments section, and if you go out and drop you life savings on a Panthers/Flames final, I want a cut of the winnings…