Taking a look at updated betting splits for Stanley Cup

The NHL announced it will return to play not in the regular season but with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The format pits 24 teams against each other. There will be eight teams playing best-of-five series in a qualifying round, and the top four on each side playing a seeding round-robin. After that, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin!

DraftKings Sportsbook posted Cup odds and we’ve got some interesting betting splits in early June.

A Tie for Top Handle

The most amount of bets are being placed on the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, the top two teams in the Metropolitan division. To be fair, their odds to win the Cup should be better than +1400 and +1100, respectively. The Capitals in a playoff on a clean slate at full-strength should scare every team. Alex Ovechkin will be in his office shortly.

The Flyers were the hottest team in the NHL before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Had Philly gone at that pace for the remaining 13 games, chances are the Flyers could have ended up with a higher seed. After the round robin for seeding, the Flyers could end up with the top overall seed. Those odds plus the chance to get an easier path make the Flyers an appealing bet right now. My only issue would be Carter Hart in net in his first Stanley Cup Playoffs coming in completely cold.

Regional Trends

This could be nothing, but it’s at least worth noting that a heavy volume of bets are landing in both Colorado and Pennsylvania. The Flyers and Penguins make up 24% of the handle and 19% of the bets on DKSB. The Avalanche are second behind the Flyers and Caps in terms of betting handle at 12% while holding down first with 15% of the bets.

You can make a case for any team but you can make a stronger case for teams led by Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon. Both teams are going to be trendy value bets at +1200 (PIT) and +1000 (COL) to win the Cup. Crosby and the Pens aren’t long removed from back-to-back Cups — albeit the roster is very different. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Matt Murray are still around, though.

As for the Avalanche, they’re stacked on offense with MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. Their question marks won’t lie at forward in a Cup run but on the blue line and in net. Cale Makar has been fantastic in his rookie season but is he ready for the postseason? Is Philipp Grubauer the goalie who can get hot and carry the team? Will he need to? These are all questions that make the Avs a more risky bet.

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