LA Kings: Biggest surprises in Vegas Stanley Cup odds
By Ryan Sikes
As expected, the odds for the LA Kings to win the 2021 Stanley Cup are not great, but let’s discuss some of the other teams, shall we?
SuperBookSports out of Las Vegas has released their betting odds for the 2021 Stanley Cup now that most of the free agents have found homes. Most recently, Alex Pietrangelo signed a seven-year deal with the Golden Knights, vaulting them atop the betting odds. We knew the LA Kings would have little to no shot of winning a Stanley Cup next year, and the 80/1 odds reflect it. That said, the Kings had 20-1 odds of winning the Cup entering the first round of play in 2012. Just sayin’.
NHL Stanley Cup updated
— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) October 13, 2020
VGK 6/1
TB 7/1
Col 8/1
Bos 14/1
Phi, Wsh, Tor 16/1
StL, Pit, Dal, Van 20/1
Edm, Car, NYI, NYR 25/1
Cgy, Nsh 30/1
Wpg, Ari 40/1
CBJ, NJ, Fla, Min 50/1
Mtl, SJ 60/1
LA, Buf, Chi, Ana 80/1
Ott 100/1
Det 200/1
Pietrangelo is a great player, and paired with Shea Theodore, should form a terrific top pairing for the Golden Knights. But Vegas traded away Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny to make room for Pietrangelo. Using last year’s goal totals, they’re at a -8 as Schmidt and Stastny accounted for 24 goals, compared to Pietrangelo’s 16. Again, just sayin’.
The defending Stanley Cup Champions sit at 7/1 odds, which makes sense. That’s a given for any champion unless it’s a complete teardown after the parade. The Lightning will have to make some moves to get under the salary cap after re-signing their key guys, but the general core remains intact. They will also, presumably, get a healthy Steven Stamkos back next year.
Colorado is an up and coming team, and it wouldn’t shock me one bit to see them in the Finals next season. Already with elite talent in Nathan MacKinnon and the Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar, they added scoring in Brandon Saad and replaced Nikita Zadorov with Devon Toews. They’ve had a great offseason. Their one true question for next season will be their goaltending.
And despite the addition of Taylor Hall, Las Vegas doesn’t believe it moves the needle very much, as Buffalo sits with the LA Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks at 80/1 odds. Speaking of the Blackhawks, you have to wonder what the heck they are doing this offseason?
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They let Corey Crawford walk, dumped Olli Maatta for a prospect that will never see the NHL, and lost scoring in Brandon Saad. Are they dumping salary or trying to rebuild? If they are going to commit to a rebuild, they might as well acquire draft capital for Kane, Toews, Kubalik, Keith, etc.
Anything else stand out to you?