Playoff hockey is quickly approaching with just two weeks left in the regular season and multiple teams vying for the coveted Presidents’ Trophy. The Carolina Hurricanes are slight favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup on DraftKings Sportsbook but the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers remain very much in the mix and could boost their odds to make deep postseason runs with strong finishes to the regular season.
Let’s take a look at my favorite futures bets over on DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Stanley Cup Winner
Dallas Stars (+1000)
The five teams listed ahead of the Stars in terms of odds to win the Stanley Cup are certainly top teams and deserving of their spots but this feels like solid value for one of the most complete teams in the league.
Dallas profiles similarly to a team like New York or even Florida because it consistently fields one of the top goaltenders in the league in Jake Oettinger. Oettinger is having the worst season of his career thus far, allowing 2.80 goals per game and posting just a .903 save percentage but thanks to the Stars’ offensive excellence, it hasn’t mattered much.
Dallas ranks 11th in shots per game (31.5), second in goals per game (3.66) and fifth in expected goal percentage (53.42%). The Stars are balanced — ranking eighth and ninth in power play (24.1%) and penalty kill percentage (81.9%) and have plenty of playoff experience to make a deep run. They were the Western Conference runner-ups last season and have made it to the final four teams twice in the last four seasons. The Western Conference certainly has some obstacles, including the reigning Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights and rejuvenated Oilers but Dallas has the firepower and discipline to go all the way.
Eastern Conference Winner
Carolina Hurricanes (+330)
The Eastern Conference is stacked. The top four teams (Hurricanes, Panthers, Rangers and Bruins) are all right behind each other in terms of odds and even the Maple Leafs and Lightning have gotten back in the groove and could make serious noise in the postseason. But one team seems to be the most complete and has plenty of depth and experience to make a deep run — the Hurricanes.
What’s the one thing that makes or breaks most teams’ postseason runs? The answer is usually goaltending and Carolina has two goaltenders, Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen, that have been solid enough between the pipes to allow the team to find success. Kochetkov has been the primary starter and leads the league in goals allowed per game (2.38) but Andersen recently made a full return to the lineup and has posted an 11-1-0 record along with just 1.88 goals allowed per game in 13 starts this season.
Goaltending isn’t even Carolina’s bread and butter, either. One could argue that the goaltending is its weak point but that might not even matter because of how good the team has been in every other area of the game. On the offensive side of things, the Canes rank fifth in shots per game (33.1), eighth in goals per game (3.37) and second in expected goal percentage (55.3%) while fielding the third-best power play unit in the league (26.7%). Additionally, they allow the fewest shots per game (25.9) and third-fewest goals per game (2.59). The Canes also field the best penalty kill unit in the league (85.8%) and lead the Eastern Conference in goal differential (+56).
The acquisition of forward Jake Guentzel from the Penguins, who has 16 points in 11 games with Carolina, makes its forward group even deeper and deadlier. Barring an epic collapse, the Canes are going to be very tough to beat in a seven-game series.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is huntersk) and I may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
