As Gloria plays loudly and the St. Louis Blues are still celebrating their Stanley Cup victory, opposing teams are preparing for the upcoming NHL season.
In the heat of summer and merely weeks after the final goal was scored in the playoffs, the work for next season has already begun. From the NHL Entry draft to Free Agency, GMs are hoping to build the next contender. The work never stops, but that’s what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.
If the Blues taught us anything, it’s that predicting a winner is extremely difficult. Down and practically out in January, the Blues were able to climb out of the basement of the NHL and walk away with a Cup ring. The Blues were an afterthought as the calendar flipped to 2019, but that didn’t stop them from completing a remarkable run.
So, which team is destined to win the Cup in 2020? 31 teams will have the chance, but not all teams are created equal.
Looking at the defending Champs, they don’t have the best odds at repeating in 2020. The Blues are listed at +1400 from Betway.com as of July 4th, 12:00 P.M*, which is the sixth-best odds. They are ahead of Calgary (+1500) and San Jose (+1700).
According to Betway, the Ottawa Senators have the worst odds to win the Stanley Cup in 2020. Listed a +30000, they would need to overcome quite the challenge in order to lift Lord Stanley.
Other longshots to win the Cup are the LA Kings and Detroit Red Wings (+8000), Anaheim Ducks (+7500) and Buffalo Sabres (+6600).
Unless you’re trying to throw your money away, choosing one of the bottom teams to win the Cup may not be the greatest idea. However, it would certainly prove to land the biggest payoff.
With that being said, the top teams have not been able to walk away with the Stanley Cup, either.
The last time the Presidents’ Trophy winner won the Stanley Cup was back in 2012 when the Chicago Blackhawks came out victorious. Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning had one of the greatest regular seasons in the history of the sport but were still eliminated in the first round. Still, the Lightning are fancied by many going into this season, being priced up as +700 favourites to win the Cup with some bookmakers. Tampa Bay are also the only team to be listed in the hundreds when it comes to the outright winner.
Three Eastern Conference teams and one Western Conference team has the best odds to win the Cup. In the East, longtime rivals Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs are both listed at +1000. It would be interesting to see what would happen to Toronto’s odds if Mitch Marner would land somewhere else. Toronto has moved the likes of Nazem Kadri, but are still a top contender according to Betway.
The Vegas Golden Knights were given the best odds to win the Cup (in the Western Conference). Vegas is listed at +1000 to win their first Cup in franchise history. They are new to the league but have dominated so far in the competition. The Golden Knights lost in the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. Last year, the Knights were defeated in the first round by the San Jose Sharks.
Speaking of the San Jose Sharks, they are listed as +1700 to win the Cup in 2020. The Sharks weren’t that active in Free Agent Frenzy, although they signed defenceman Erik Karlsson to an extension at 8 years. However, the Sharks lost Joe Pavelski, a guy who had great leadership in the locker room.
Will 2020 be the year a team finally wins the Stanley Cup for the first time? We just saw the Blues finally capture their first Stanley Cup. In the east, Florida, Columbus, Buffalo, and Ottawa are all searching for their first Cup. The Washington Capitals won the year before the Blues, meaning it’s been two straight seasons a new team has won the Stanley Cup.
In the West, the Arizona Coyotes, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, and Vancouver Canucks are hoping to finally win it all.
Nashville recently signed Matt Duchene to their team but also got rid of P.K. Subban. We can expect the Preds to be contenders, however, we are unsure of how big of a threat the Predators will be. Pekka Rinne is getting up there in age (36), but they have a good core in Duchene, Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg running the offence.
There are also a number of Free Agents on the board that could shake up the outcome of the season. Once players sign with a team, it could also change the outright odds moving forward. Depth is a huge advantage when it comes to winning the Cup. You need all four lines to contribute, so any smart GM is actively searching for their next depth piece.
It will be interesting to see which teams come out on top almost a year from now. It’s incredibly hard to predict who will lift Lord Stanley, but Betway attempted by listing out the odds. Can a top team capture the Cup, or will an underdog swoop in and etch their names on the holy grail?
*All odds are as of July 4th, 12:00 P.M. (EST)
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