Despite a busy NHL trade deadline, no team separated itself from the pack among Stanley Cup contenders in the eyes of Vegas oddsmakers.
The odds board remains a dead heat, with nearly a dozen teams bunched together at the top with a realistic shot at winning it all.
The Oilers and Florida stand as co-favorites at +700 (BetMGM Sportsbook), but they have plenty of company right behind them.
BetMGM has eight teams listed between 7/1 and 11/1 to win the Stanley Cup.
With the championship window wide open, contending teams were more active than usual ahead of the NHL’s stretch run.
The Rangers (+1100) traded for Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg and Chad Ruhwedel.
The Hurricanes (+900) acquired Jake Guentzel from the Penguins.
In the west, the Avalanche (+750) added to their second line by bringing in Casey Mittelstadt.
And that’s just scratching the surface of all the shuffling that went on over the past week in the NHL.
But there was one team that made some major moves that vaulted themselves up the bookmakers’ odds boards: the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights got defenseman Noah Hanifin from the Flames on Wednesday, just one day after acquiring forward Anthony Mantha from the Capitals.
Vegas followed that up with a third blockbuster move, trading for two-time NHL All-Star center Tomas Hertl as the buzzer sounded at the deadline.
The Golden Knights had been +1600 to win the Stanley Cup for the second straight season, the 11th-best odds at BetMGM and firmly out of the inner circle of contenders, as recently as Tuesday, before their big additions.
Betting on the NHL?
Now, they are sitting at +900, which is tied with the Hurricanes for the fifth-best odds at the sportsbook.
As Vegas showed last year when they won the title after being a +1400 dark horse on Mar. 1, the NHL playoffs can be a crapshoot.
But if the odds boards are any indication, this year’s Stanley Cup is about as up for grabs as any.
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