No betting favorite on the Stanley Consensual Cup; Panthers still in the running

The bookmakers of the sports betting market do not see a consensual favorite for the Stanley Cup while the Florida Panthers are preparing to try a very rare hat -trick in the NHL.

The Hurricanes of Carolina, the avalanche of Colorado and the EDMONTON Oilers are the co-favoris (+800) on ESPN BET, with the stars of Dallas, the Golden Knights and the Vegas Panthers at +900 and the Lightning of Tampa Bay at +1000. However, no big American bookmaker offers the same combination of solo or co-favoris favorites, Florida and Vegas being headlining in certain stores.

“The way I see it, there is no real short and clear favorite,” said Johnny Avello, director of Draftkings Sportsbook, in ESPN. “This year, it’s more open at the top, and then you have a whole second level of teams that are in this range of 20 to 40. There are 10 other teams there. Could the winner of the Stanley Cup come from there? Absolutely. But the first level has eight teams which, in our view, will compete for the title.”

The last favorite of the Stanley Cup in pre-season to win everything was Colorado (+600) during the 2021-22 season.

Panthers ranked among the favorites to win the Cup immediately after their second consecutive championship. They were more than 600 solo favorites in mid-September following the extension of contracts outside the season of Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett-despite the surgical operation outside the season of the Superstar Matthew Tkachuk, which should return before the new year.

However, a knee injury by Captain Aleksander Barkov at the training camp, which should prevent him from playing throughout the regular season, or even more, has gone into the lines of the Florida Stanley Cup in most books. Several operations immediately lowered the team’s championship ratings, ESPN Bet briefly lengthening them to +1000.

However, the action on the cats has remained robust, ESPN BET bringing its highest share of Paris (17.1 %) and its handle (21.4 %) supporting them at three towers, while BETMGM claims that the 13.8 %handle of the team is the second highest on the market. Some bookmakers, such as Karry Shreeve, head of hockey at Caesars Sportsbook, have even refused to dethrone panthers as favorites, stressing that Barkov and Tkachuk injuries have more effect on team ratings in the regular season.

“We are not ready to lower their prices significantly, at least for the Stanley Cup, simply because I am not convinced who will occupy their place (in the playoffs),” Shreeve told ESPN. “As long as Florida is again participating in the playoffs, for the moment, without knowing anything else, it remains, for me, the favorite. Not much, but always a favorite, and it is not a team that we are ready to oust in terms of price for the moment.”

Several sports betting, including Draftkings and Espn Bet, are rather at the top of the Hurricanes, even if the bettors support them at a relatively low level in terms of number of tickets and misé money.

“Carolina is one of the most dominant teams we have seen in recent years, having recovered certain talents in the summer while they are looking to take another in -depth race,” said Adrian Horton, principal director of ESPN Bet, by email. “Customers will probably have their difficulties in the playoffs in mind, but the panthers had to be vapor to eliminate them. We expect Caroline to be back to fight in the playoffs.”

In the level of the favorites, the bettors focus more on the avalanche, which won third place on Betmgm and ESPN Bet. Beyond the first level, many customers bet on the Toronto Maple Leafs (+1,600), who have taken the most tickets and money on BETMGM.