Taking a look at Stanley Cup odds during the break

The NHL regular season has been on hold for over three weeks now due to the coronavirus pandemic. Right now, it’s clear that the League wants to resume the season and eventually hand out the Stanley Cup to the new champion. The NHL extended its self-isolation period to April 15 and it’s expected to last at least another month or so after that. So in short, we may not have hockey for a while.

We the League stopped, we’re going to take a brief look at complete Stanley Cup odds for 2020 on DraftKings Sportsbook. These odds are reflective of March 10, right before the break.

There are two teams out in front of the pack and a handful bunched together behind them. The Boston Bruins have been the best team during the regular season. They lead the race for the Presidents’ Trophy by a wide margin with 100, carrying a 44-14-12 record. The Tampa Bay Lightning are behind them at No. 2 at +750 to win it all. The Bolts have arguably the deepest team in the NHL when fully healthy. Goaltending is the question mark with Andrei Vasilevskiy having a mediocre year by his standards. The Lightning have underperformed most of the the regular season, but all that gets thrown out the window in the postseason.

Even before the layoff, it was tough to get a gauge on who should be favored heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Out of every sport, hockey is the least predictable in the postseason. This, coupled with the coronavirus outbreak, makes the field very wide open for the Cup. If we’re talking about teams that suffer from the layoff, well, it’s the Philadelphia Flyers. Hockey is all about momentum and nobody was playing better than the Flyers before the break. Before a loss to the B’s on March 10, the Flyers had won nine in a row. All that momentum heading into March and April gets thrown out the window and now we don’t know if hockey will come back.

If we’re looking for a team that benefits from this time off, it’s the Flyers biggest rival: the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have played a ton of hockey in their careers between the regular season, playoffs and international play. Any extending time to rest is good for a veteran squad and don’t forget the Penguins have won two of the past four Stanley Cup Finals. If Matt Murray can get his head right and Crosby can get to 100%, the Penguins would be dangerous in the playoffs and are +1200 to win it all.

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