Today, 16 teams begin their quest for a Stanley Cup as the puck drops on the 2025 NHL Playoffs. There’s a couple of very exciting matchups on deck out in the Western Conference, beginning with a top-tier series between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.
This matchup brings plenty of drama to the first round — the Stars bounced the Avalanche from the postseason last year and in the 2020 bubble playoffs, but as if that’s not enough bad blood, there’s a handful of players facing their former teams. Mikko Rantanen of the Stars said he was blindsided when the Avalanche, the team which drafted him, traded him away earlier in the season. Dallas’ Matt Duchene and the Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin are each facing their former squad, as well.
As the Stanley Cup Playoffs get rolling, DraftKings Sportsbook is offering plenty of ways for bettors to get in on the action. Here’s how the public is betting this opening-round series between two of the NHL’s best teams.
How the public is betting Stars vs. Avalanche in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
As things currently stand on DraftKings Sportsbook’s series winner markets ahead of Saturday’s opening game, the Avalanche are -155 favorites to advance. The public very heavily favors the Colorado to win with 90% of the total handle has been placed on the team to win the series. The splits also indicate that 66% of total bets are on the Avalanche to beat their rivals in the first round. In short, the vast majority of money and bets favor the Avs in this series.
Interestingly, these odds have shifted from earlier in the week when each team held -110 odds of winning the series, so the movement was likely brought about by Stars forward Jason Robertson’s recent designation as week-to-week due to a lower-body injury. Many bettors probably placed wagers before this odds shift when they were able to get better value on Colorado.
As for the Stars, DraftKings Sportsbook lists them as +134 underdogs. Despite the value, it appears the public is mostly avoiding putting their money on Dallas to make it out of the first round. Just 10% of the total handle is on the team to win, while 34% of the total bets are on the Stars. Overall, it appears bettors are placing smaller wagers on the team more than anything else.
It makes sense that bettors may find themselves scared off from the Stars. The team won eight straight games through late March and early April, but dropped seven contests in a row to end the regular season. Given their recent form, as well as more stats outlined in this series preview article, shying away from Dallas is the safer move.
